Love by the Balloonatic
Earlier this year, my friend Nathan Brindle was experimenting with Midjourney and he began sharing images he had developed using images of his wife. I called them my daily Sally and they brightened up my morning when he posted them. I'm not sure if it was his plan or our encouragement, but he released them in a delightful picture book, AI is Love. Nathan and Sally, while they attended the same high school a few grades apart didn't start dating or marry until later in life. However, having met them in person several times, they have a love that is tangible despite their differences and they are one of those couples that, if you had to define love, you would point to them.
It feels a little ironic to be writing about love. I'm a child of parents who split up in my late teens, and the only one of my siblings to also be divorced. I'm one of those people who suits the description of lucky in cards, unlucky in love. One of the best ways to illustrate this is to point out that my older brother moved to Australia as a young adult, fell in love and got married to an Australian woman. Almost a decade after he moved there my older sister followed in his footsteps – attending school for a year, where she met her husband, fell in love and got married. Five years later, I also went to Australia for what was meant to be a year of study. I met someone, fell in love, and he moved to England. Such is the story of my life.
And yet, while I have never had a great romance of my own, I have been fortunate enough to experience it vicariously through many of my friends and family. I have seen the marriages that have lasted for decades, strong and steady. I have seen some that appeared like roller-coasters, full of ups and downs, but with the couples hanging on tight despite that. I have seen the tragedy of several friends losing their soulmate and somehow surviving, and, having had that powerful experience of love they seem to have the strength to go on with the hope that they will be able to find that love again. And some of them do. And I find myself envying them, despite their loss and the hardship that they experienced because they are secure in the knowledge that they were loved.
However, while romantic love may never be in the cards for me, love – as the Greeks taught it – has many forms. I have many people that I love and care for deeply as if they were my family. I have a son I love and of whom I am extremely proud. I have parents and siblings, nieces and nephews who I love even when I do not always like them or the choices that they have made. There is my love of God and His love for me. Plus I have my dog who adores me and loves me unconditionally (because lets face it, the cats, as much as I like them, just tolerate and expect adoration; and the chickens….). I also have a strong love for my adopted land, and the hope that as a country we can redevelop the bonds to the constitution and bill of rights that made us a shining beacon and a place where people could find freedom, justice and liberty. That we can find and strengthen the love of what made us what we once were and could be again.
As the holidays approach, let us reach out in love to those around us. Whether you are married or single, find someone who is struggling and let them know that they are loved. It might be a family member, a neighbor, a friend, a colleague or a perfect stranger. There are so many powerful people who are trying to fracture our bonds of family, friends and country. Let's fight back not with hate but with love.
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