When you think about love and the idea of love, what and who do you think about? Do you think about moments with your kids, your husband and or wife, girlfriend or boyfriend? What about that furry pup in your life?
For me, when I think about the idea of love and a certain moment in my life, it is not a warm and fuzzy memory. I was 19 years old and my mom was recently diagnosed with kidney failure and needed a dialysis port for her soon to be rounds of dialysis. I remember driving her home from an outpatient procedure. As we were pulling out of the hospital parking lot the medicine did not sit well in my mom’s stomach, she could not hold back the natural instinct to yack up whatever was left in her system. In the moment that followed, she looked at me so embarrassed, she kept telling me how sorry she was that I had to experience her in such a vulnerable space. The humility and sadness that I saw in her eyes will be etched in my memory forever. As I look back to that memory, all I remember is feeling and overwhelming amount of compassion.
Sometimes the moments that are chalked full of love are not always pretty, smelling your newborn baby’s head or walking down the aisle to get married, but are these moments full of compassion and grace. Sitting with a terminally ill parent, supporting another friend through a recent affair, comforting someone through their recent loss. Sometimes in these moments – It is not the words you say, but the compassion and love you give by your mere presence.
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