What’s Love?

Newsflash…Today is Valentine’s Day. You know heart shaped everything, stuffed animals, perfectly wrapped gifts and bouquets of flowers…Le Sigh. Technically this is my second Valentine’s Day without a valentine of my own. Yes, I am still legally married but we no longer do those kind of things. To be totally honest this will be the first one that we aren’t living together and it’s got me wondering if I even know what love is. I know it’s an immense feeling of want and desire but…. there has got to be more to it than that. So I have decided to make a list of things that I love and find out what the common denominator is between them.

I love a steak cooked medium-well with a beurre noir sauce

I love a good sale that becomes even better when I can still use my coupon

I love a pair of shoes or a purse that are so unique some may think them ugly

I love a chef knife with a nice weight to it and a really sharp edge

When I stop and look at the makings of this list I notice something immediately. So far all of these things are just that…things. If it came right down to it I could live without them. They are great to have but I wouldn’t lose any sleep if they weren’t in my life. So now I have to dig a little deeper. I was with a man I love, yes I still have love for him, for over 20 years of my life. It has not been easy walking away from our marriage so I know love is more than things that I can easily dispose of. Love has got to be more than objects we collect. The roses that you hope pray you get today with the card from that special someone. Is it really about the roses? Or is it something more? My list continues…

I love brunch with my friends.

I love when my oldest child calls me so we can catch up as he drives home from work.

I love Mother/daughter time with my Mom

I love Mother/daughter time with my daughter.

I love when my middle child texts me about the crazy things his college roommate has done for the week

I love being able to express myself to others through my food and writing.

These are more than things. This list consists of people and connections. These occasions I reference are what memories are made of. And yes there may come a time when I may not be able to partake in some of these activities with the aforementioned people. But until that time I will still have the memories and the connections we made. People and situations change daily but the memories never change. The connections you make with people for that time is what I feel LOVE is all about. Without them it would just be things we do with no real meaning. I believe that as humans we all want to be able to connect with others on some level…ultimately leading to love. We all just want to be loved. So yes I can truly say that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Having had a connection you can reminisce over and maybe even shed a tear about is way better than never having had one to recall.

So today go do something you LOVE with someone you LOVE and make wonderful memories. It’s Valentine’s Day and LOVE is in the air afterall. I know some of you may have been looking for a post about what to cook today or what you could wear but this was what was on my heart. Please leave me a comment if this rings a bell with you.

~The Chef In Pearls

Photo by picjumbo.com