A friend talked to me about love this evening.
The kind that ends after a while, so it's better to tell each other and leave it at that.
But I ask you, what kind of love springs up so quickly and vanishes just as fast?
Actually, is it love?
I love playing the guitar
I love feeling the vibration of my voice inside my stomach when I'm singing, and I love the tears in my eyes and the shivers that performing a song gives me
I love animals and adore feeling the warmth of their bodies next to mine when they're in the mood for cuddles
I love pizza with buffalo mozzarella on top and a little leaf of fresh, freshly picked basil
the taste of tomatoes, tart and sweet at the same time
the sound of rain falling, but only if I'm under the sheets, preferably cuddling the person I love
I love curling up under the covers and feeling the warmth slowly lull me to sleep
I love waking up in the morning and lingering a little longer, right up to the very last second of lateness my day can allow me
I love making a friend smile, especially when times get tough
I love laughing
I love my home and everything it represents to me
I love writing
I love drinking an ice-cold beer while I'm writing
I love my eyes when they light up with happiness
I love the fact that I never stop hoping
I love the smell of the night
the smell of snow and the first cold days when winter arrives
I love the color of the trees when autumn is ending
I love, I love thinking about what I like, what I love and what makes me feel good.
But how long did it take me to figure that out?
Because it doesn't take much to pick up a warm beer and realize it tastes disgusting.
But discovering instead that thoughts flow into sentences faster if, while you write them, you not only quench your soul's thirst but also give your throat something to drink...is a matter of time.
Of doing, doing and doing something again, until you understand that you truly love it, in that way and with that one little extra detail, which, what's more, is never the same!
Four years ago I left my boyfriend at the time, a truly serious relationship, only because I hoped to shake things up, but the instant I saw him walk down the stairs that separated us, I knew immediately that he would never come back.
The next day, from the airport, in despair, I sent a text to a special friend.
"What if I made a mistake? What if he's the person I'm meant to spend my life with? How do you know she's the right person?".
And he replied:
"Syl, the right person is the one who, at a certain point in your life, you turn around and they're right there, beside you."
And as his brother might say...it's the one who catches you with your head in the clouds.
While you're there thinking about something else, when you least expect it, you simply turn around and realize they're beside you.
No expectations, no bells, no doves or closing credits.
You simply love them for who they are.
You love them as though it were the first time you've seen them, and you've probably always loved them, from the very first moment; that's why you noticed them and drew close to them.
You just needed time to understand that they were your special ingredient.
Because the right person isn't the one who turns your life upside down, even if that's easier to believe.
But the one who doesn't change it at all.
They simply become part of it, little by little, until they become its main ingredient.
And you theirs.
Sure, it sounds less romantic.
But I don't dislike the idea at all.