Love is

When I was growing up there was a saying:

Love is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling you never felt before.

Cute saying. We all carried it around in our wallets, and we girls would say it almost like a mantra when we "fell in love" with someone on TV or with our boyfriend of that time.

I recall my father giving a sermon on what love is. He didn't mention the ditty above.

He said "God is love, and because God is love, love is forever." I think he was talking to me because I was "in love" with so many boys at that time. It was before my one true love -- my husband-- came along -- at which time he told me to remember love is forever, not for just this week.

I asked him why he didn't use my definition in his sermon -- which he was perfectly aware of because as I said it was the "mantra" of us girls of the late 50s. He told me to think about it.

Well, as I have gotten older, I know why that is such a silly ditty.

First, there is labor -- having a baby is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling you never felt before.

Having an auto wreck is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling you never felt before.

Losing a parent is a grief that is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling you never felt before.

Having an inflamed sciatic nerve is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling you never felt before (or ever want to feel again). Same with kidney stones.

Watching a loved one go through the throes of chemotherapy is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling you never felt before (and never, ever want to feel again).

So, what's the point? Silly sayings that mean something when we're young and are so tied into your own selves and thinking, can come around and when you finally get the true meaning of what was said, you feel like an idiot for even thinking that thought at all.