—LOVE IS A BUTTERFLY STORM (My son has a habit of taking a journal with him to certain outdoor events and asking everyone he meets, even perfect strangers, to write down what they think love is. Here are some of their answers from a recent outing): I believe that love is the truth. If we could compile our definitions of love, we could get closer to the truth. Love is forgiveness. Love is grace. Love is hurt. Love is work. Love is You. Love is what links us altogether. Love is how your ass feels at the rest stop during a long drive when you’re pretending to be asleep. Love is what you decide. Love is like a glass that isn’t too tight or too loose. It’s something that lets you grip the small things and BIG things. It’s not perfect. Love is watching your baby grow older. Love is complicated. Love is a cup of coffee on the porch on a warm, rainy day. Love is what helps you move through the world. Love is the enjoyment of who your partner is today and the excitement to see who they become tomorrow. Love is precious, unknowable, undefined, yet known and felt. Love is Punk. Punk is love. Love is letting someone else have the last bite of dessert. Love is saying, I see you, and I see you seeing me seeing you seeing me. Love is acceptance without judgement. It’s compassion and grace for someone who might not even deserve it. Love is presence. When you listen, you love. Love is a butterfly storm. Love is a verb. I will give you the big piece of pie or the last dry towel. I will walk the dog if you don’t want to. And tend to the kids we don’t yet have. There might be a lump. I will lay on it so you won’t have to. Unless, of course, you’d like to. Love sees the imperfections but doesn’t care. Love is really just attention. Love is the basis of all things. It’s even available in the silence. Love is trust, investment, holding space for another person. It’s allowing yourself to be completely vulnerable with someone else. Love is the capacity to hold something in its full truth and not look away. Love is the commitment to dancing in someone’s light and their shadow. Love is striving to see someone more accurately than you see yourself. Love is a terrifying reminder that you can never be alone if someone loves you. Love…Man, love feels like acceptance to me. Love is the small things. It’s showing up when you don’t wanna. Love is about being selfless. Love is a cup that’s always full.