What Is Love?

“What is love, anyway?
Does anybody
love anybody anyway?

I’ve recently been talking to a few people, two on Facebook and two others on the phone about my feelings on love. What it is, is it worthwhile and is it real? I know I’m quite naïve on the subject, simply out of lack of experience, but I find it surprising how many people are either down on the subject or take the emotion for granted. Well, today’s lesson kids, is all about the power of love and the need to constantly search for it. I believe, not only in love itself, but that the quest for it is essential for us to survive.

I’ve spoken on numerous occasions about my lack of success in the love department. I’m quite reluctant when it comes to pulling the trigger when it comes to any possibilities of it but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish for it to occur every single day. I believe, in my heart of hearts, that no matter what anyone says, everybody else is looking for it too.

It is, as John Lennon stated so eloquently, all you need. The true Holy Grail. Once it’s found, in it’s truest form; it has the power to soothe the most savage of beasts. Now that I’ve thrown out the obligatory clichés, allow me the opportunity to give you a few examples of love in this purest form that I’m talking about.

There is, of course, the obvious. A newborn baby being held by his mother. I know a number of you out there are mothers and I want you to think of that moment. That moment when you first looked into your baby’s eyes. I want you to remember that warmth that started in your chest and spread like wildfire throughout the rest of your body. I want you to remember how your eyes filled with tears, and I want you to remember how you felt like you were experiencing an out of body experience. That kids, is true love.

Along the same lines is the love we’ve all seen of a little girl and her daddy. I have experienced this type on numerous occasions. Two quick examples are of Maegan when she was a baby. The excitement she showed when I would come home from work sent shivers down my spine. I use that memory quite often when I’m down and still feel that tingle throughout my body.

The other is when Amanda, my oldest, told me at her wedding that little girls always look for their fathers’ to marry. She then looked at her new husband, then me, and nodded. I got chills writing about it right now.

There is also the love that I’ve written about recently that I’ve personally experienced right here on this computer. It’s the love of friends. It’s the love I’ve felt since reconnecting with so many people that have shown such a warmth towards me and others that you can’t help but feel it.

Then we have the love between two people that seems so hard to attain. Don’t misunderstand me here. I know there are many out there that are happily married and have been in love for years and years, that’s wonderful and I congratulate you. I wish for you the kind of love that makes you want to wake up each morning. That’s the kind of love that I’m really trying to talk about.


See, I really believe that the kind of love that two people can share can be the most incredible thing known to man. It can give one strength they’ve never thought possible. How would I know? Well, I don’t, but like I said, I do believe this to be true.

I know for a fact that most wish for that kind of love. Just go to any movie theater and see any kind of love story. When it’s over, and I don’t think it matters what sex you are, when the two people that you’ve watch struggle through the whole movie finally get together, you feel it. You feel that warmth. You feel happy for the two of them. You also feel a bit jealous and I think we all know why. We feel like that because they found it. They found what we’ve all been looking for and know is almost unobtainable.

I know I’m gonna catch all kinds of crap from all sorts of people about how naïve I am in feeling the way I do about this but I’m willing to take the heat. I’ve mentioned to a number of people that one of my all time favorite movies is, “Love Actually”. Yeah, I know, chick flick. Be that as it may, I love it. Anyway, at the beginning of the movie is a scene at Heathrow Airport and the voice over is talking about how you can see love in all its dimensions at the arrival gate. Just to show you all how far ahead of my time I am, when I was a kid I started going to airports when feeling like I could use the sight of happiness and love. Still do it to this day.

Try it next time you’re there. Just watch people when they see each other after a trip of some sort. If you look close enough you’ll see it. Not often, but it’s there. You’ll see that one couple that has that spark. You’ll see the look in their eyes and the glee in their hearts and you’ll feel it. And you’ll say, “know what? Kevin was right”. I’m telling ya kids, it’s the Holy Grail and who doesn’t want to drink from that cup?