The Downside To Love and Devotion

If you’re someone I care about, chances are good that I’ve written your eulogy in my head.  More than twenty minutes late, driving through a snow storm, choosing to fly Frontier—it’s all been reason enough for me, with a lump in my throat, to prepare your final tribute.  I’ve never taken a survey, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one out there creating a mental Rolodex of sad speeches, because we all live with the reality that this life is fragile, and that one day we’ll say good-bye to those we love.  More to the point, one day we’ll say good-bye to the one we love.

Finding love, that person you most want to Netflix and chill with, is a wonderful thing, and if you’ve just found it, let me just say, Hooray!  You two are beyond adorable together!  It’s so annoying!  And yet it’s so sweet.  But seriously, Congratulations!  No more awkward dates, no more third-wheeling it, no more telling your cat about your day, because now you have each other.  I’m sure you’ve already noticed how love can turn a simple task, like grocery shopping, into time spent together.  Doing price comparisons and tossing stuff in a cart is better when you're with the one you love.

As love deepens, I think you’ll find that days slip into weeks and then to years in a happy blur.  The neck of time’s hourglass seems to fatten, permitting the grains of sand to tumble almost unobstructed to the bottom.  Where did twenty years go? you’ll ask yourself.  Where did thirty?  How is it possible we’re no longer young?  The ticking of the clock, rather than just an irritating sound you can’t filter, becomes the enemy.  One day you’ll have to say good bye to each other.  Your faith tells you this good bye is temporary, but parting will still be a tearing apart, a crumbling, falling to your knees. 

If we’ve loved deeply, the downside is that devastation will be ours at good-bye.  Yet, how much sadder it would be if we weren’t devastated, if we had never loved like that.  So, love, truly, madly, sweetly, letting that love bless your life with happiness and fulfillment.  Make the most of this time you have together, before good-bye.