Queen of Hearts
Sydney born Rhodes Scholar, Doctor, Medical Researcher and cancer patient Anna Donald once said, “As human beings, love sustains us in the most incredible ways and yet it is not a text book force. You open a physics book and love’s not in there. So where is it?
Perhaps the question then, is not so much where but who? Who is and are those ones that elicit from us those timeless feelings of human attachment, emotional connectivity and interpersonal relationship. Who, rather than where.
The Maze
Love’s a maze, “a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. On trend, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex series of pathways. Technically the labyrinth is distinguished from the maze by a single through-route that twists and turns but without branches. It’s not designed to be as difficult to navigate.”
In my experience there are types of love that hold us and keep us better than the ideal of love portrayed by some modern magazines. Roadside purveyors of fluffy stories that fill the heads and hearts of the young with just enough truth to sound plausible tho’ light on interms of the passage of pain that might be involved.
Yet, perhaps hindsight is much kinder than I believe. At least it allows the young a go, unimpeded progress to their own place of experience, knowing full well they have a much better resilence for it. Wonderful, tender youth.
Strong Love
The strong love of my friend JLB sustained me more than a decade ago during the end of my marriage. The pain I felt and recognise all these years later is the disconnection I felt from someone I’d been married to for more than just a moment. It was a terrible time but I’m vigilant in never allowing it to haunt me all these years later.
Actually, JLB saved me to life. How? She listened. She shared in the few moments of laughter that could be had in that time and loved me regardless, all the way through those ‘dark nights of my soul’. The thing I understand about the who of love, is that, a WHO pulled me through.
Is the WHERE any less important than the WHO? No. In Anna’s case it’s the question she asked. In my case, it’s simply not one I would have asked. It’s a good question and an honest question. We ought, each one of us, explore it for ourselves. I should like to hear what you learn about yourself in the exploration. Travel well, friend.
