Dear Love,
Where are you?
I used to wonder that so often.
Are you in my mother’s warm embrace?
In the neighbor’s kind “Good morning”?
Are you hidden in the soft light of a new day, or in the joyful smile of my daughter?
Does the green grass carry you?
Or perhaps you’re in the face of a stranger I passed in the park?
I searched for you everywhere.
So many of us do—looking for love in people, in places, in fleeting moments.
For me, life has always been about you.
Because life without love? It felt like it lacked meaning.
I searched for you in people first.
And I did find you—within my family, my friends, and in the most beautiful form of all: the love I feel for my daughter.
Then, I found you in places.
In the lake where I grew up.
In the city where I studied.
In the place I now call home.
And then, I began to find you in nature.
In the rhythm of ocean waves.
In the majesty of the mountains.
In poppy-filled meadows.
In the pear tree in my grandparents’ yard.
I discovered you in the little things, too:
In the taste of my mom’s brownies.
In a squirrel’s darting across the park.
And in countless other tiny, beautiful moments.
But even though I saw you everywhere, something still felt incomplete.
There was always a small ache. A sense that something essential was missing.
Until one day, I looked into the mirror—into my own eyes—and finally saw what I’d been overlooking all along.
You were there.
You had been waiting.
I had never thought to look for love within myself.
Never paused to offer love to myself.
And that changed everything.
Because the most valuable love, the most healing, the most lasting—was the one I gave to me.
So now I know:
You are not just out there, scattered in the world.
You are also right here, inside me.
Always have been.
Always will be.
With all my heart,
Me
Leave a Reply