Love in Darkness ❤️
Initially posted via LinkedIn (here)
Did you know "love," spelled backwards is “evol(ve)?” Seems appropriate given that love is ever evolving, changing, and growing. Today, I spent Valentine’s Day with the people I love most – my family. Around 8:00pm, our electricity went out and after losing my mind 10 times in 2 hours, I finally gave in and settled into an involuntary, unromantic candle lit evening.
Currently, it’s 10:30pm. My husband is drinking tea, my son is playing his internet-less tablet, and after restlessly trying to read a book, watch a DVD (with no luck) and play solitaire - I decided to write.
My house is eerily quiet. In fact, we can hear the wind blowing outside and the sleet/freezing rain drum rhythmically against our windows. The squeak from my husband’s bar stool is driving me a little insane, and yet…I’m mostly content.
That’s the funny, confusing thing about love. You feel it in the joy and you welcome it in the pain. A snow storm in Houston is pretty rare and the last time our power went out was during Hurricane Harvey, when we slept in the closet due to constant tornado warnings. Similar to Harvey, my son finds this time exciting. All bunkered down in our living room, my husband and son just finished a game of “who can keep their hand closest to the candle for the longest amount of time.” My husband won of course.
I’m reminded of the times that meant the most to me when I was growing up. As I reminisce, I realize that my favorite moments from childhood were centered around us being in the same room of my family home watching TV, playing cards or games, talking or just hanging out.
As we age, we tend to take those moments for granted, but they turn out to have the biggest impact and leave us with the warmest memories.
I look forward to having power and internet again (hopefully very soon), but I’m also thankful for all of our blessings now – a well-insulated home to deter the cold, people I love to share space and time, and a gas stove to ensure that I can keep snacking through the night. However, my heart, thoughts, and prayers are with those who may not have all of these things.
This season has taught us how to appreciate all that we have while continuing to push towards the things that we want. This last year has shown us that anything is possible (both bad and good), and that we should not waste time wondering or living with regrets. Now is the time to seize the day, the hour, the moment in time and use it to your benefit.
On this valentine’s day, I hope that you all felt loved, showed love, and manifested love in everything that you did and everything you continue to do. But my bigger hope is that Valentine’s day was just a reboot. The real blessing is getting the chance to spread love each and every day. So, I leave you with this –
Let’s remember that everyone needs love - it’s a very real and very basic need. Let’s work together to find ways to spread love among our family and friends – as well as strangers. Let’s also remember to keep special populations in mind as we look for ways to spread love.
Special consideration should be given to the following populations:
the elder community,
those who have been unemployed or underemployed due to COVID,
children who are virtual learning,
all teachers, and
anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one.
Some things we can do to help are to:
Start a letter writing campaign.
Create goodie baskets to show others you’re thinking of them.
Call/text/video conference a friend or family member regularly.
Put on a mask and go spend some (physically distanced) time with someone.
Avoid assumptions about how someone is doing (ask them).
No one deserves to be lonely or feel like a burden. We can all do our part to combat this by proactively reaching out and keeping in touch. Let’s work together to spread more love every day.