 |
| Image courtesy: Raj Manchekar |
It's been a long week, with lots of work and household chores on my to-do list, and as the weekend looms large, there is still no respite. As your ABC book so eloquently reminds me, L for Laundry awaits.
There are many who believe that Love, the L in my book, is all about ecstasy and harmony. But the truth is that the ecstasy is short-lived. Just like the laundry, once washed clean, doesn't magically stay that way. A lifetime of clean laundry demands multiple cycles of washing and rinsing. And so it is with Love.
You have to keep working at it. There may or may not be violins and harpsichords playing in the background. But there will be laundry to be picked up, washed and dried and put away, snotty noses to be wiped and snores to be put up with.
When my grandmother was on her deathbed, your grandma and her older sister tended to her with a love that never complained, a love that even the bed sores could not disgust. Where does such love come from?
Love, as a noun, is an emotion, what a songwriter called "a many-splendoured thing." But that kind of love is so big, it seems unreal to us mere mortals. Love, as a verb, love that willingly, with a cheerful heart, does what needs to be done is hard. It consists of meals cooked and served, beds made, bills paid, bogeymen scared, stories told at bedtime and mealtimes, boo-boos kissed, leaky taps fixed and a thousand little acts accomplished for the sake of someone special.
For love is an act of the will. The movies may propound what they will. Take it from me, love is something that happens to you, sure, but to make love last, you have to make it happen. Every day.
Another thing, not entirely unrelated: don't be too quick to imagine yourself in love. Give your heart only when you are absolutely sure that it is the real thing. And when you do give your heart, be even slower to give your body. In fact, I don't know how old fashioned or retrograde this might sound when you're old enough to think along these lines, but my advice to you is, Let your body be a gift that your spouse and you will unwrap for the first time.
My wish for you is that your life may be blessed with love in abundance. That you may never forget that love needs a lot of hard work to thrive.
Heavy stuff this! You can chew on it over the weekend. I'll see you on Monday.
Lots of love,
Mamma
Beautifully said!
ReplyDeleteLove and laundry--perfect combination. The laundry brings the love down to earth. All of this is worth re-reading and then reading again, but for now my favorite line is "Love is an act of the will."
ReplyDeleteThank you.
How beautifully you have said it Cynthia ...yes our youngsters need to know the difference between love and ecstasy ...and love is indeed the sum total of so many mundane monotonous things we keep doing for the persons we love without thinking twice. When you love a person , there is no thunder and lightening , just an old warmth that makes life so much more easier :) sharing this on FB today :)
ReplyDeleteLove is what is left over when the dopamine surge drops. I see another Epiphany today - ah well, I better get used to it. Please look into publishing these, Cynthia. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteI think this is your finest one yet, Cynthia. Love of the everyday variety - the dirty socks and the smelly mouth - that's the kind of love that truly lasts. The rest is for the movies! ♥
ReplyDeleteWhen ur laundry is in a terrible state u really need unconditional love! :P
ReplyDeletePhenoMenon
http://capturedalive.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/let-me-be-free/
Like U told love is not with any background music , some times love lasts even with just NOISE and hullabalooo around
ReplyDeleteNicely put Cynthia. Take print outs of all these posts and gift to your kids . AM Sure they would love to preserve it !
So nicely put Cynthia. Perfect description of love. Another masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Particularly like the bit that love is a verb....
ReplyDeleteI bow to your wisdom and compassion Cynthia. I wish you to compile your A-Z series in a book. I would be the first one to buy it.
ReplyDeleteYou have presented very well, Love and Laundry ! what a combination, thanks for sharing !
ReplyDeleteLovely post, like you said we have to keep working at love to sustain it.
ReplyDeletewww.sulekharawat.com
Lovely post... for the Dil Phenk my types this is so important piece of advise : Don't be too quick to imagine yourself in love. Give your heart only when you are absolutely sure that it is the real thing. REGISTERED in my brain ! :P :D
ReplyDeleteloved this surge of wisdom you pass to your kids cynthia and hope all young ones in the world get to read this !
ReplyDeleteLoved the way you connected this with laundry. Fab post again Cynthia.
ReplyDeleteDifferent sorts of love ... so beautifully explained !
ReplyDeleteI love the comparison of clean laundry to love! You're absolutely right - as time passes, faults, fights, and stresses definitely leave stains on a relationship. You have to be very tolerant and committed to stay in a relationship. You sort of have to "not see" all those soiled bits.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! :-)
So very beautifully said, Cynthia!! Just marvellous!
ReplyDeleteWow...loved this post...agree..love may seem to lose its magical power with time but the actual magical sheen lies somewhere else where it needs to be worked to be in love.
ReplyDeleteAlso, agree to the last part of the post completely :)
Ah, how I love love ... and your post. Beautiful!
ReplyDelete#atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com
Loved this post full of love!! :)
ReplyDeleteHey! For what it's worth, I featured this post on my blog today: http://www.bigaandlittlea.com/2013/04/best-posts-from-the-April-Challenge.html
ReplyDelete