The Trail

Love is something you can’t control but you wish you could …

That’s what I was thinking this morning when I told one of my children I loved them.

It would sometimes seem easier not to love.  To protect ourselves from its force. For fear of getting hurt. But why?  

I’m sure you have heard of the saying “Its better to have loved than to have never loved at all”. There is truth in that. Ask anyone who lost someone they love. Ask my father.

 I’m sure if given the chance to go back in time and to that fateful evening 40 years ago when he  first  met my mother and to deny that love. To protect himself and to stop himself from falling in love, he wouldn't. How could when he now knows what that love created. It created three beautiful children (I for one included ;-P ) and a lifetime of memories. A lifetime of love. 

He can now look back at the 36 years they had together and be grateful for the times they shared despite the pain caused when the love did end. He knows the truth in the saying “It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have never  loved at all”.  

But is that so easy when you first fall in love? Or when presented with love? Its a gamble. You have to put yourself and your heart out there, and that can be scary. You may get hurt but then again you might not. And if you do happen to get hurt then all is not lost....

That is because love isn’t about how long it lasts or who it’s with. Love is about the gifts it brings. Those moments shared, the laughter, the joy,  and the memories created. The good times. These can never be lost or taken away even if the love does end. 

The trail love leaves behind is what love is about. Not when it starts or ends.  So be open. Love today and do so without the fear of ever losing something which can never be lost. The trail.