guerrilla goodness: what you know about love…
August 15, 2011
us…on the 13th anniversary of our marriage, and 19 years together
I have no idea how it all works, this love thing…but over the last week, I am becoming even more sure of one thing…whatever it is, it is worth it.
I sat next to this man, while we dropped off children at school, put oil in a leaky car, ate breakfast, talked of uncertain times, watched a movie, dreamed of travel, of being alone, and took this picture while little people tried to pop their round faces in the shot, over and over again…and I knew it, it hit me plain as day, I always knew it was right to follow this love, to stand in it, to believe it fiercely, to fight for and collapse in it, to savor it, to fear it, to be changed by it, to rest in it, to come home to it, to worship it, to hold it so tenderly, to give it everything I have…and we did…and we will.
It is my one true thing.
…and yet so many times I am baffled by it, or sort of lost in the power of it, and really, it can not be explained but all along the way, I am gathering little pieces. like…
I know there is nothing like it…
I know it may ask you to be a warrior…
I know it can hold more than I ever imagined…
I know when it’s good, it’s PHENOMENAL , and when it’s bad, well… *sigh*
I know it is everything, the root of who we are…I know we all need it desperately…
These small/big truths are like a light that take me to the next place of knowing myself and learning how to love better, or how to receive it, or just be closer to the only thing that matters…and I imagine we all know a little something about love, whether we have it or need it or offer it. Whether it has crushed us or saved us…whether we are old or young, or somewhere in between…we all hold it.
So you must tell me…what do you know about love? I left these little cards across the city telling you a little I know and asking you to tell me, whatever you know (the good, bad and ugly-and all different kinds) about love…I’m pretty sure we are all trying to figure it out.
If you found a card, write your answer and leave for the next person to find…everyone else- tell us your bits o’ wisdom or stories in the comments, or on Facebook and Twitter.
Kindnessgirl 
August 15, 2011 at 10:19 pm
What a lovely post…
What do I know about love?
Love makes me fierce and soft at the same time.
Love makes me want to be a better person…
it is beautifully powerful…
I want to protect it at all costs.
Love makes everything seem possible!
August 15, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Congrats on 13 years!
August 16, 2011 at 4:52 am
great photo of you two and beautiful thoughts on love.
i love brenda’s words, “love makes me fierce and soft at the same time”.
that would pretty much sum it up for me too.
August 16, 2011 at 5:06 am
Truthful Post, Lovely picture!…
LOVE ❤ is God and without Faith there is NO Love.
Congratulations to you both & may God continue to bless you furthermore…
August 16, 2011 at 5:59 am
i know that love gets better and better…
August 16, 2011 at 7:53 am
I know two things about love.
1. Love is the only cure for our deepest wounds.
2. It is what I crave and need most to survive, yet I fight myself in the battle of giving and receiving.
August 16, 2011 at 10:24 am
I was trying to sum up my thoughts, but you did it better. I will second both of these things.
August 16, 2011 at 8:05 am
When I read your post, I immediately thought of a poem that Greg and I said to each other at our wedding. It is called “Why Marriage?” by Mari Nichols-Haining
Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body…
Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,
Who won’t hold them against me,
Who loves me when I’m unlikable,
Who sees the small child in me, and
Who looks for the divine potential of me…
Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night
With someone who thanks God for me,
With someone I feel blessed to hold…
Because marriage means opportunity
To grow in love in friendship…
Because marriage is a discipline
To be added to a list of achievements…
Because marriages do not fail, people fail
When they enter into marriage
Expecting another to make them whole…
Because, knowing this,
I promise myself to take full responsibility
For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness
I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my marriage
Together we create our marriage…
Because of this understanding
The possibilities are limitless.
August 16, 2011 at 9:09 am
I don’t know jack about romantic love, but I know that you and J have it. In spades. Congratulations.
August 16, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Love makes me feel vulnerable.
Love makes me bubbly.
Love makes me happy.
Love makes me a better person.
August 16, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I know that loving yourself can heal what no other medicine can.
August 20, 2011 at 9:22 pm
I know love is coming by at 10:30pm at night to pick up your friend’s fish when your neighbor has bailed. So that you can go to Disneyworld worry free that a beta fish will be well cared for and your children will be happy upon return to see their fish.
August 22, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Without it I would be lost.
August 22, 2011 at 8:59 pm
From both of your expressions, to your honest and true words about love, I was reading this post with a smile on my face the entire time. As a newlywed, I feel like I am only beginning to learn about love and how it affects you. I can’t wait to continue growing together with my husband, to maintain our relationship and see how love keeps growing. Our love is different now than it was when we first met, and I imagine love keeps on changing, while also remaining the same…anyway, you basically said everything I’ve been feeling lately as I think about my new marriage, and my partner, and the love I have for him – but you were able to express it so perfectly and clearly, in words I couldn’t find.
August 25, 2011 at 10:25 am
Your description of love is right on. I believe that the love that we share with one another comes from a deeper more substantial and real root: God’s love. It is never ending, it keeps no record of wrong, it is real, it guides, heals, it saves. Where love ends on this earth, God’s love continues…it never fails. Love is an amazing thing. God’s love is amazing.
This is what I find to be true in this world:
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:9-12