The high-school boy is terrified walking the girl to her door on the first date.
His heart is pounding, palms sweating, should he kiss her? She turns to him with a sheepish smile, as nervous as he is.
Young love.
The beautiful bride standing at the door of the church, her prince smiling back at her from the alter. Dad is on her arm. Friends and family all turn with beaming smiles to look at her. She takes a step, in this moment she is Cinderella, the fairy tale is real.
This is love.
Then comes the nervous ritual of the blind date, will she be the lady or the tiger. Will he be Brad Pitt or just the pits?
This too is love.
Grandpa and tutu sitting together on the porch swing, they have braved life together for 60 years. They are happy and calm in their heart. He pats her wrinkled hand, they smile at each other, not much time left as they lightly swing watching the sun go down over the sea.
This is lasting love.
The man wakes at 6 a.m., hugs his wife, gets up, puts on his rough clothes and in the dark trudges out and builds rock walls all day. His wife gets up, cooks breakfast for the kids, gets them to school and then drives to her job working well into the evening. They come home dead tired and fall into bed, and do this 6 days a week.
This is great love.
The young women gives up her exciting life to move back home and take care of her aging parents, cooking, wiping their mouth, tucking them in at night for years.
This is real love.
And Barbara who loves Ann and Tim who loves Roger. These too are the feelings we celebrate and accept.
You fall in love at least twice in life, but it’s the last one that really counts. When you’re young, love is like wearing dancing shoes, when you are older it’s like putting on comfortable slippers. I sure love mine.
Love has been here since the beginning.
The mythical Penelope yearning for 20 years for her hero to return from his Odyssey. Helen of Troy following her heart across the sea to launch a thousand ships. Antony and Cleopatra dying in each others’ arms. Lancelot and Guinevere.
Adam and Eve, Sonny and Cher, John and Yoko. Love defines us, what we hope is real and will stay, though it tests us beyond hope.
The yearning to belong, the hoping for the arrow from the little wonderful bow, the glue that has kept this wobbly world of humans together for a million years.
Love endures all things, love is the shortest distance between two hearts.
And coming up soon is that one red-letter day to remind us of the most important thing in this world.
Make that someone feel special.
Dennis Gregory is a writer, musician and artist who mixes truth, aloha and humor in his biweekly column. He can be reached at makewavess@yahoo.com