L is for Love & Laundry List

As cheesy and trite as the word love has become, I would be remiss if I didn't use it as my "L" word. I would be untrue to myself.

Because the Beatles had it wrong. Love isn't all you need. Love is all there is.

When it all comes down, love is all there is. Love is the macrocosm in our microcosm. The lineage of every other emotion we feel can be traced back to love.

I've held hands with dying people, people who were shells of what they once were, people who barely had the energy left to breathe. Yet, somehow they summoned the strength to say, "Tell them that I love them." At the end of their lives, that was the only thing that was important enough to relay. Love.

If we'd take time and pay attention to the love in our lives, love of friends, family, self, I think we'd be a lot more measured in our reactions to things.

To love another - and I mean unconditionally so - to give love to another opens not just doors for us, but worlds. There is a universe of possibility in love. Because, whether or not our love changes the other person, it changes us. It rewires us.

When was the last time you really expressed your love for someone? I don't mean a quick peck and a hug and a hurried, "I love you." When was the last time you looked someone in the eyes - friend, family, lover, stranger - and with every ounce of your being said, "I love you." There is such huge power in that. Dizzying power. Try it.

Oh, wait! First go look in the mirror and say it to yourself.

Okay, but really? "L" words are some of my favorites - some of the juiciest to chew on. So here is my Laundry List of "L" words:
Lascivious
Loquacious
Lugubrious
Lexicon
Liberty
Luster
Lycanthrope
Libido
Lachrymose
Laconic