Unpublished Work © 2011 Cristina Carlino  

TINY ACTION FOR BIG CHANGE: TELL A NEW LOVE STORY – NOT JUST ABOUT THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE BUT THE LOVE IN YOUR LIFE

Valentine’s Day is behind us. The bloom off the rose, the wrappers off the chocolates and whether it’s your favorite holiday or you’d prefer celebrating the day with a root canal;  one  week later,  you may wonder as the great Supremes song goes, “where did our love go?”  Hopefully nowhere. Love, (LUV) is everywhere.  Every day, whether the chocolates show up or not.

That may sound like the same old story, but not if we are looking to spread our butterfly wings a little.  And that’s what I’m aiming to do.

So my tiny action for big change this week is to tell a new love story.  A true love story not just about the love of our lives, but the love in our life.  Whether or not we have “the love of our lives” or not, our daily life may not be perfect   Letting in the love usually is.  So here’s my new story: it may not be the steamiest or the most romantic, but it may be my greatest love story ever told.

So I’m beginning with the love of my life – which is life and that I even still have one today!    That I am still here, all these years later to be able to touch my toes with my fingers and the tip of my nose with my tongue!  When I can stay out of the past and not be certain I know the future, a simple stretch in bed as I wake up and water splashing on my face and taste of cinnamon in my warm steel oats is love supreme. It is my God smiling on me, loving me, even if in the next move I am frowning at myself.

The great lines in my story may not be as famous as, “You had me at hello,” or  “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” But they are my lines and circles and eyes twinkling and crescendo moments when my soul fills so deep with the many loves of my life from my darling daughter to my beautiful parents and my silly siblings and fabulous friends and neighbors and teachers to the many I have never met who entertain me and inspire me today and throughout my years.  The loves in my life are the ones who grew up with me while we built two companies and the workers who came to build shelves for my house.  They are the folks that, even while we sleep, are driving the trucks that bring in the groceries that we will buy at the store tomorrow.  My love is the wondrous thrill of just watching my young daughter as she eats.  Perhaps you know this love, too.   Or the love of the explosive laugh you received thanks to your pet who doesn’t know a single joke, yet saved your day or the moments when those who could not be saved come back to you with  still breathing  kindness or wisdom or heartbreak

I’m looking for all the little measuring spoons to mix my story with.  When we find love in our lives in the smallest and simplest of places our love story doesn’t need to have a crowd-pleasing ending.  This story is always our beginning.

Granted, it’s a story that you won’t be looking for soon on Netflix.  But let’s face it.  When we are the lead character in our own moments, we can stop looking for more love.  We’ve found heaven on earth.

With grace and gratitude,

Cristina