Love

Valentine's Day is looming near, rearing it's ugly head to the fear and consternation of lovers everywhere. The one day in which affection becomes obligatory, no longer a joy freely given. But it leaves one wondering, or at least this one wondering, what is the nature of love?
It has always been my personal belief that love is something we grow into you. That blinding lights to the brain, odd revelations in the middle of the night- music, fairy dust and all that rot- were abstract works of fiction created to inspire the parting of money and pocket. That love, true and abiding love, was an animal of an entirely different nature. It was slow, solid and deliberate. Basically the mule of the emotional world- steady and plodding, but gets the job done without too much fan fair. That often, under the flash and attraction of first love there lay the mule ready to take over where the race horse left off, if one may excuse the extended equine analogy.
Perhaps things are not so simple. Love is something else entirely, or rather- it is entirely neither but shares the characteristics of both. Love is the quick flash- the burning light to the brain. It is waking up in the middle of the night with the sudden realization- I am in love. It is the feeling of innate rightness, deep in the soul that who and what you are is meant to be with another. But it is also that slow deliberate plodding creature. It is choosing to spend time watching a football game when you would rather be reading. It is leaving the last cookie in the bag for someone else. It is sitting quiet with someone without a word to say and being content in the silence.
Perhaps in the end, love is knowing that you would rather run the uncertain risk of entering into a relationship with someone then to never know what might have been.