What is love?

When I was single I wanted so badly for a definition of what love is. How could I ever know if I was in love if I didn't even know what love is?! It was a struggle. The problem I was dealing with is that I was trying to logically think through love. What I have realized from dating and marrying Gil is that love isn't always logical. It isn't black and white. That is why I had a hard time. I wanted a "yes, SJ, this is love", but I should have been more willing to stop thinking so hard and enjoy the journey of falling in love.

I've officially been married to Gil for over two months. While it isn't nearly as long as most couples I know, I still have learned a few things about what love--without a definition--is.

1. It's when neither husband nor wife will eat the last blueberry bagel because they both want the other person to have it--even though they both love blueberry bagels.

2. It's when wife is too tired to move from couch to bed. So husband picks her up and carries her, then proceeds to bring her toothbrush to her so she doesn't have to get up to do that either.

3. Its when husband wakes up wife because he is late and needs a ride to school, nothing would make wife happier than to help her love get to school on time.

4. It's when husband does the dishes for a half hour because he doesn't want wife to have to do them after making a meal.

5. It's when self-sacrifice is worth it if it can make the other spouse happy.

6. It's when wife is sad after having missed a flight and husband talks to the flight agent without being embarrassed that wife is crying into his shoulder at the same time.

7. It's sitting down after a long day and having the desire to tell spouse about every detail as well as wanting to hear every detail--because you care about their day. Even it it was just a normal one.

8. It's when wife wakes up to see simple notes written on the back of an old receipt that say, "I love you".

9. It's when husband volunteers to go wait in line for the football game so that wife can do other things instead.

10. It's when wife and husband can be completely theirselves in front of each other and still be accepted.

11. It's when husband keeps saying ridiculously funny things in the morning while getting ready to church which cause wife to role on the ground with laughter and document everything he says.

12. It's when just being together leaves wife with a feeling of contentment,

These are just a few things that I have discovered about love over these past few months. One of the most important things I've realized though, is that love isn't the same to everyone. There are some things about love that everyone could view as the same, but there are other things that we could all view differently about what love is.

 Although I still am not an expert on the subject of love. I do know that love is very powerful...and I love it!