Love! Love until the night collapses!

Look at this picture.  Oh my.  Believe it or not, this was wayyyyyy before Andrew and I started dating and wayyyyy before we really knew each other.  This picture was taken about a month after we'd first met, doing an educational theatre tour in New Jersey (romantic, no?).  I was seriously dating someone and he was casually dating many, but neither of us had plans for Valentine's Day that February night of '06, so we went out to a fancy Italian dinner with two of the other girls in the cast.  I laugh every time I see this picture because I really had no idea what I was foreshadowing here.  I was  just posing for a picture.  If you know me, you know I'm pretty fast and loose with the kissing, so a smooch on the cheek was my 'go-to' pose for VDay (if you look closely, I'm not even touching his cheek, THAT'S how little I knew him!)

Anyway,  I like to pretend that my heart knew we would end up together even though my brain didn't.  Seven years after this "kiss" I'd like to report that my brain and heart are in agreement.  

Due to many bad/sad/yucky relationships (and maybe because it's just a little bit the way I am) I've had to re-learn the whole love thing a few times (who hasn't).  What is the saying? One step forward -two steps back?  But I finally feel like, with Andrew, I'm getting the hang of it.  Becoming better at it.  Learning more and more that Love is enough (when "love" means: hard work, communication,  compassion, trust, compromise and, sometimes, space/time).

I am constantly battling toward these virtues, while Andrew seems to be standing at the finish line most times - patiently waiting for me to catch up.   What a good man/lover/Lua's daddy I have :)   

Speaking of the devil,  he just walked through the door after having been gone since before 9 this morning, so - I'm outta here!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! 

p.s.  the title of this post is a beautiful Pablo Neruda quote - and here's another, just because I love him so...

 "I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees."

...xoxo!