Love, loving and saying "I love you"
“All great stories are love stories.”
It was such a simple phrase and it stuck.
We were sitting outside of the old Crossfit Central downtown location, Jeremy’s gym, talking about the different stages of life and how, “You’re at the adventure stage where that’s the focus. I’m at a different stage where it’s more about health, longevity and settling down.”
The phrase has stuck with me ever since, constantly popping up in my head. I didn’t quite fully understand it at the time, and I definitely still don’t fully understand it now, but ever since I’ve let that simple phrase / idea arise, infuse, diffuse and linger across a multitude of scenarios.
Maybe it stuck because I have a hard time understanding love. The word love. The actions of love. Loving. Romantic love. Loving family. Loving friends. Saying “I love you”.
At the beginning stages of my last (and only real) relationship I remember at one point she was crying in the bathroom, “You’ve never even said ‘I love you’”. I hadn’t, but then I did, and I meant it.
Back in high school this one girl who I guess I was kind of sort of dating didn’t want to have sex because I wouldn’t tell her “I love you”. I wouldn’t, and did not, because I didn’t.
I haven’t told many people “I love you”. Not even, “I love you, man” or even “love you.”
“All great stories are love stories.”
It’s true.
But how?
Are there levels of love?
Does saying “I love you” to someone you like a lot count?
Where’s the boundaries?
How much liking is love?
I stopped taking pictures of things and started taking pictures with people.
This summer I bounced around quite a bit and had a disposable camera the whole time. One for awhile until it was done, then another. They just got developed.
Looking at the pictures with so many people I further came to realize that “all great stories are love stories”.
There’s so much love in the pictures. After waiting eight months to get them developed, I was filled with love. So many amazing people who I love. So many memories captured in an image. Something about the analog film captures love, that moment, that connection, that energy.
Long after forgetting about what could possibly exist on that roll of film, and then seeing it totally fresh, I was filled with love. I instantly jumped back in time and was filled with emotions of events, places and experiences with amazing people.
I love you.
I want to say it more, because it’s true. All great stories are love stories.
There is not one single great story that isn’t a love story. We cannot live a great story, alone. The people in our lives are what make our story great. All great stories are love stories.
Similar to inspiration, love doesn’t diminish as it’s spread. Love isn’t finite. Love is infinite. And it has infinite potential. Love is great. And all great stories are love stories.
