There is a segment of the population who feels the word “love” gets over-used. So say these folks, if you use a word too often it becomes de-valued. Trite. Cliche. It loses it’s specialness, if not it’s specificity.
I don’t think “love” has that problem. If anything, I think we don’t use it enough. I think we ought to use it for the little things like ice cream and finding a quarter on the sidewalk and jeans that fit and whatever the word is when it’s hot outside and it starts to rain lightly – a nice warm misting, just enough to cool you down but not enough to drench you. And of course we ought to use it for the big things too.
I think for some words, using it more brings more of it into the world. If nothing else, it normalizes the idea of loving things, and I think we need a lot more of that right now.
So, in the name of love, here’s a very partial list of things I love. Off the top of my head:
- My wife
- My grandkids
- My kids
- My cat
- ice cream
- finding coins on the ground
- leaving coins where I found them for the next person
- the smell of cut grass
- the small of cut grass I personally didn’t have to cut
- the sound my arrows make when they hit dead-center on the target
- the sound of kids laughing
- the sound of my kids laughing
- the sound of my kids laughing because they are seeing if they can tickle each other until one of them throws up
- the taste of home-made baklavah
- understanding words in another language without having to look them up
- the sound of rain at night when I’m snug and warm inside (preferably in bed)
There’s (obviously) a whole bunch more. But this list is a start. What’s yours?