Once upon a time: There was a little girl who was born with a loving and trusting heart.
She was beautiful and innocent, she looked at the world through eyes that had only known love
– for she was deeply loved and cherished by her family.

Each Day: she learned something new about love. She learned that her Mom loved her
unconditionally with a selfless and sacrificial love. But Mom thought that love meant sacrifice,
that if she just gave a little more, everything would be okay. Her Mom’s love was steady, patient
and fair.

Her Dad loved her with a big and hearty love, he had an appetite for love, but it was a love that
could be needy, perhaps a love for his own glorification. He wanted his love to be recognized
and applauded because he was trying hard. If he could FIX the mistakes from his own childhood
now, maybe this was his chance to be a hero.
His love was exhilarating, “You can’t hurt steel” he would often say when he was doing something
daring, and he loved it when you did something daring with him.

It was in her young mind, a loving and beautiful family, she felt so lucky!
Until one day: the love between her parents took a drastic turn. At a family meeting it was
revealed that the family was not “perfect” That her dad had fallen in love with someone else and
what she thought would be her future was going to be very different from the movie in her mind.
Her dad was no longer her hero, and they were not “The Walton’s.”

After that, life got messy and a little scary. Divorce……. But somehow, the love was always
there. The love between her mom and dad survived. They both expressed their continued love
for each other before they died. The love between she and her mom…..always a given, was her
source of calm and safety. The love between she and her Dad, although shrouded in hurt for
quite some time, it also survived and actually grew stronger over the years.
And because of that: She knew that Love is bigger than she is. Bigger than our human mind can
fathom. That it can survive enormous pain and betrayal. That we are held by Love, a divine love
that is our example…. And That forgiveness is possible.

What I learned about love in this chapter is……. that love is not a feeling. Love doesn’t keep
score. Love is a choice, love is a mind set that acknowledges that we are all flawed, we all make
mistakes. Love forgives. Love is the knowing that we are all just doing our best. I’m doing my
best, my mom was doing her best, my dad was doing his best, my kids are doing their best, my
husband is doing his best, my sister is most certainly doing her best…. And our best is good
enough. Love says, you don’t have to do anything to make me love you any more than I
already do. It is a “Given” as my mother’s love was for me. My love is my greatest gift.
My purpose here on earth is to LOVE with a love that needs no glorification, my Love you can
take for granted…. in fact I want you to take my LOVE for granted.