Like is “Because”, Love is “Although”

I felt such a depth of love yesterday which I wanted to share. Last evening included a wonderful Valentine’s Day benefit concert by local folk singer, Bill Cohen. Included with his breadth of talent and wonderful sense of humor, was a broad spectrum look at the many aspects of human love. We can experience its wonder and its pain from so many angles. It can make us shy, longing, and be hard for us to express. It requires bravery and risk taking to enter. Its pinnacles of realization are a driving force in most of our lives (all 2 and a half days of it according to one quote!).

The feeling that we often picture love as – is joy-filled, mutual, and intense. It requires trust and patience. It can require us to let go of the word fair. Mature love knows that it won’t ever meet all our needs, but we can be grateful for the ones it does.

Love doesn’t often last in our culture. Most who’ve lived a few years, know the deep pain that can come from the loss of love. Perhaps it’s because we grow at very different paces. Perhaps it’s because one partner can’t look past the other’s foibles. Maybe we lose trust. Perhaps one of the partners needs change and the other needs the same patterns. The reasons are endless.

When we are lucky enough to navigate life with the flexibility needed to have a life partner, the title of this article rings true. When we have a long-term love, we love ALTHOUGH or in spite of. One has to be good at looking past their love’s quirks and their perceived flaws. It can give us practice in the skill of forgiveness. Of course, that applies to oneself also, as we need to learn to forgive ourselves too. If each of us are here to learn, particularly how to love, wow…. No wonder it is so complicated. No wonder that it’s the people and animals that have been our best teachers.

In the end, Bill and his team of musicians sang, “Stand by Me.” In the end, we just want someone to stand with us and be loyal despite our own inadequacies and theirs. We wouldn’t be in this life if we didn’t want to learn. That means we aren’t perfect and will all have flaws.

If we are lucky enough to have a relationship where both partners usually find a way to work on improving themselves and listening, we certainly improve our odds having long term relationships. In the end when, our bodies or our minds or both go, won’t we be lucky if we can still feel the love. It was really meaningful to share this concert with my significant other. It brought tears to my eyes.

You see, I’d already had tears when I went to the concert. I had given one of the most intense readings as a Medium earlier yesterday. Distant cousins of mine had just said farewell to their beloved relative with a life-celebration. When this rather large group gathered back home, they called me to communicate with her. Unlike many who are recently passed, their relative was already out relishing in life again and could communicate. It was the most intense reading I’ve ever given, possibly because it was so fresh for the soul who passed into renewed life. I felt so inadequate to the task of hearing her. Partially this was because so much of it was felt emotion that I had trouble putting into unique words. She was so grateful to have their day and way of honoring her. She helped me heal in last night’s dreams from not being able to fully convey what was happening. I thank her and her family for putting up with me! She had been a well appreciated Medium in this lifetime, so she wants to thank her family for her unusual send-off, for their memories, and their laughter.

What was apparent yesterday, is what a day of depth it was! How lucky we are to know love. How lucky we are to be missed and to feel its joy. We need to have the gamut of its experiences to feel its heights.

Gratitude abounds. Thank you so to this transitioned cousin, to her family that called and had patience with me, to the musicians and my loved ones. Gratitude abounds. Lasting love is ALTHOUGH… and I’m so grateful.

Love and Light,

Linda