Mom and dad
"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."
~Anais Nin
I think about my parents, and how at one time they were in love with each other. The more I try to understand love, the more nebulous it seems to me. It is as though we lose our sanity, and only regain it once the spell is broken. We give everything that we have with the hope that the other person will reciprocate. It is a gamble that is worth taking because the pay off is great. When the passion and amorous feelings have dissipated, we once again see with clarity. Mirages disappear, and we see the other person as they truly are. Masks come off and our skin becomes transparent. Sometimes we do not like what we see. Now my parents only refer to each other in negative terms. It is as though they are enemies. Strange how after 20 years of marriage people can behave as though they never loved one another. For them, love is now only a distant memory.
Being in love is amazing. However, it leaves us in a very vulnerable position. Our hearts must be malleable and ready to endure pain. Sometimes it doesn't turn out the way we had expected, and we are left holding tiny fragments of a battered heart. If we are fortunate, someone comes along to help us patch it back together again. Once nurtured, the heart thrives and becomes stronger.
I believe in love, passion and insanity. I can't imagine my life without these three things.
