Faith Restored....

On my recent trip to Puerto Rico with my family something happened------my faith in love was restored. I had began to question the existence of true love. I began to think love was a mere concept but it didn't really exist.

I started to think of "love" the way I thought of Santa Claus...it was just a nice story to tell your kids at night to give them something to look forward to. You fill their head with stories about a man who gives children whatever they ask for on Christmas as long as they have been on the "Nice List" throughout the year. At the end of the night, when the kids are sound asleep, its just you alone wrapping the presents and putting them under the tree to keep up the charade.

At some point, as a child, you come to the realization that Santa isn't real. Some people learn this earlier in life than others; some people continue the fantasy for the younger children in the family but for some Christmas never really holds the same magic.

For a long time, I was that bitter child wondering if maybe I somehow ended up on the "Naughty List" which is why I couldn't seem to find my true love. Being in love was like waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under you. You didn't know WHeN but you knew it was coming. It was inevitable and only a matter of time before the rose-colored glasses came off and you saw things for what they really were. Surprise, surprise, I am NOT in a serious relationship with no intentions on getting into a serious relationship, maybe ever again. But like I said in the beginning of this post--this is a story about a faith restored in a little town of Puerto Rico.

I spent some time with my aunt and her husband of 36 years. One night my uncle is showing my cousin and I his cuatro guitar. He says to us: "sometimes I like to take this out and sing a song to my beautiful wife" She says to him: "sing me that song that I love" He then starts playing his cuatro while he serenades his wife. The look in her eyes when she looked at him had me convinced--Love Does Exist!! At that moment nothing else mattered for either one of them except they loved and had each other.

Are we all lucky enough to have that experience of truly loving someone for who they are and know you are loved in return for who you are? No, unfortunately not.

Real love is kind of like winning the lottery. Not everyone is lucky enough to know what its like to be a winner but that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying. You gotta be in it to win it--Hey You Never Know.