I’ve known love in many degrees. Given and received wonders in all shapes and forms. I’ve learned that love has no limit with how it expresses itself. My life would be empty and so incomplete without someone in it to love.
As a young man my father was in the army and stationed in France. Our family followed him there. One day we went on a family day trip to Paris. While there we visited Fontainebleau, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. At the foot of the Eiffel Tower there was an angel selling small bouquets of flowers. In an instant, for the first time, I gave my heart away. I couldn’t speak French but I begged my mother for some money to buy anything from her. Her smell, her look, I found this moment reshaping my mind. Then her voice, she set the stage for every woman that entered my life from that day forward. It was light and soft and made my heart sink then I found myself floating on a cloud. Love is a wonderful thing.
The heart of my writing is found in Jesus Christ. His love is the reason I write and His love holds the keys to my living. I’ve been in the mist of love and loving from the first moments of my awakening. We were living in a small village named Chaumont. That was the nearest place my father could rent for us that was close to his army base. We arrived there in the summer before school started. We were free everyday to roam the village to see what we could get into. This was the place where I learned that love was about giving and not receiving. You see I took my mother for granted most of my life. She was just there to provide me with what I needed each day. That was it until two major events happened. First, she got very sick, so sick that they took her off for a major operation. We did not know if she would return, that woke me up to the reality that she was. That also was the first time I prayed. The first time I went outside of myself for help. Being useless had a profound effect on my living. That next month after she returned, I found her outside in the car talking about she was leaving. That was the first time my heart fell, I told her that I loved her and whatever I could do, whatever I could give, it was hers if she would not leave. From that day until she died, I made sure she had the best gift, on her birthday, that I could give. Love has defined my life and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.
During my travels I’ve been scrutinizing this painting of a man kneeling on one knee with a figure rising out of him. The second figure is pale compared to the kneeling man with his head lifted instead of declined. I’ve found this best describes where I’m living at this time. I feel as if the life I’m living has been constraining the real me for some time. I’ve been kneeling to the weight on my life and now I’m finding a place where the real me can emerge. These books shows a glimpse of where I’ve been and who I hope to become.