February is the month of love. Wow, that’s a loaded statement. If you follow my instagram account “graceandaging” you already know that I have various thoughts on the topic. How we can take one word that is so complicated and put it into one month to celebrate and call it Valentine’s is amazing to me.
First, let’s look at two colors typically used for February and Valentine’s; pink and red. Two colors, that elude different connotations. Words that are typically used to describe the word pink are; soft, gentle, and innocent, to name a few. Then there is the color “red”. Words typically used for this color are; seductive, sexy, powerful…well you get the idea. Yet, both of the meanings of these colors are derived from the same flower, Dianthus Plumarius. Maybe it is for this reason that both colors are used to represent the month of love. You’ve heard the saying, “opposites attract.”
As I have matured, my whole idea of love has matured, as well. When we were young, we were in the season of our life when we have the parent child relationship. The love we had for our parents was a dependent kind of love. Next we encounterd “puppy love”. Remember the mushy gushy love? The kind where you would read teen magazines and think some day you would find that perfect one for you? Moving on, many of us experienced the love of a significant other. We found our “other half” our “soul mate” and experienced the awe of giddiness and what we though was “wholeness.” Often, it is not until the second part of our life that we recognize those types of love are only the tip of the iceberg. Those types of love are healthy and normal. But, we have begun to realize that our definition of love has taken a different meaning for us.
In fact, once we reach the season of over 50, could it be that perhaps our definition of love starts completely over? We begin to realize that we will be living out the second half of our life asking ourselves questions that will bring us to a new understanding of the word. If we have children, the cycle of love for them has come full circle. We experience them as adults and we see them as the ones who will ultimately assist with our aging decisions. Some may have had the experience of a broken relationship thru divorce or maybe we have lost a parent. In other words, life has happened to us and we are now at the point of creating new definitions for ourselves and living them.
Relationships are added to our lives to help make them rich. They are there to teach us how to love others. Relationships can bring different types of people together. These people then bring different gifts to a relationship, yet they can create beautiful harmony and compliment one another. It’s not always easy but it is evolving. It is a journey and it is a choice. Whatever it is for you….Happy Love Month.
