LOVE Day: every day

I love love.  I love thinking about it and feeling it and even saying the word. It is a caress in the mouth with its velvety "l" and "v" and welcoming "o."

As I also adore red and the passion and verve it represents, Valentine's Day mesmerized me since childhood with its lushly dramatic loveliness. Chocolate, hand-scrawled Valentines, flowers, of course.  But especially the heartful energy they symbolize.

I remember that "[w]here there is love, there is life." (Mahatma Gandhi)  Righto. Why not intentionally splash  that vital energy to fertilize the emotional landscape every day?  Basically, a free agent lavishing kindness and joy.

So, as I removed the lights from the crispy tabletop Christmas tree today, I went into the other room to collect the tropical plant from Home Depot to create a Love Tree again this year.  Sprinkling some joy in the house, to inspire and comfort as we pack away wistfully the treasured memories of the holiday season.

I've got her in my kitchen lair now, a twinkling companion as I cook.  Half of the string of red lights I had planned to use had burned out, so I've draped multicolored ones--fitting, I think, as the colors of love cover the spectrum, oui?

I've got my luscious, red candle burning as I cook a family favorite for dinner on this grey, bone-numbing day.  Hoping the comfort food will ease and nurture body and soul, and dispel the winter colds. (No surprise what the secret ingredient is--rhymes with "dove" :)).

As I stir the proverbial pot, I will contemplate love and how I can spread some kindness today.  Just an ordinary day: in other words, a priceless gift.  Thank you!

Sometimes I overlook how effortless sharing the love vibe can be.  It can be as wondrously simple as a smile.  As Mother Teresa observed, "...[l]et us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

And I'll hug the beautiful words of that iconic beauty, Audrey Hepburn: "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." <3