close encounters...

"She has this unbelievable moment of strength because she had love...that's what happens when you have love..."

- from the movie "Pieces of April", starring Katie Holmes

love sometimes can be overrated...
or so most cynics like to say...
but it can also be underrated...

some people actually downplay it and run away from it all together...
like the plague.

I guess it's just a matter of knowing and trying to understand
what it really is...

what is love without a purpose?
a former Ms. Universe once quoted some poet,
"love is not love, until you give it away..."

what is love without sacrifice?
a line from the musical play Miss Saigon goes...
"to make sure you're not hurt again, i swear i'd give my life for you..."

what is love without losing?
that popular cliche of a saying...
"it's better to have loved and lost..."
yadda, yadda...

what is love?
do you know what it really is?
how do you know it is what it is?

what kind of love do you have?

one movie would dissect it to be three kinds...
(ack, i'm a big movie fan, if you haven't noticed)

love.
big love.
great love.

the first one is the kind that goes away after, say, two months.
the second one is the kind that goes away after two years.
the third one...

ah, the third one...

it's the kind that changes your life forever.

if you get hit by the third kind of love...
that's both a blessing...
and a curse.

you cannot escape it.
there's no way you can hide from it.
there's no denying it no matter how hard you try.
you are done for my dear.
and it's good...all over.

not everyone is blessed to find it or be found by it...
but once you have "it"...
you'll feel strong...
and yet so powerless in all the right places...

you're out of control and you delight in it.
it's crazy...but makes so much sense.

the thing is...
sometimes you don't even know "it" is just right in front of you.
waiting to be recognized.

it is not in the package that you hoped for...
but it really never comes wrapped the way we want it to be.

unless you give it a try and unwrap it...
unless you try it on for size...
unless you give it a shot...

then you would have missed out on "the third kind"...

it would have almost been a close encounter...

but you didn't look up...

tsk.