I love.

Sometimes this complete (though very brief) sentence is weighed down with lots of (WARNING: new word incoming...) extrapredicate-y things:

I love chocolate.
I love to wear pink.
I love running on Sundays.
I love my parents.

That's all well and good, but many times this feeling I have can be summed up without any of those additional qualifiers. Just plainly, I love.

It's an all-encompassing, genuine reflection of what is on the inside. It's such a vague, broad, and transcending emotion, not necessarily tied to one specific thing or place or person; rather, it's a state of mind and a state of being all at once.

People come in and out of our lives, and I've been fortunate to give and get love in abundance, but the thing that makes it all possible from the beginning is the openness to others and to new experiences that this state of simple, constant love affords.

Do I love perfectly? Of course not. But loving others is such a satisfying thing - and even more so when it's returned - that it's etched into the core of my being.

All of that said, to all those who have contributed in one way or another to the love in my heart, whether friend or family, near or far... thank you. My life has been made richer because I have you to love. :)