Merriam Webster’s dictionary definition of the word love is quite lengthy.  I was surreptitiously surprised to see all of the definitions of this frequently used noun.  Mom always says that it’s proper to love people and to like places and things.  I used to be in love with Frank, and I certainly believed that I was in love with that ass-hole from Asheville, and you know everybody knows how much I loved Tom Petty and Jimmy Page.  I love Europe, particularly Paris, and my love affair with her continues to this day.  I  love to see the branches of trees bending in the arms of the wind and I love to watch the water cascading over the dam at Wiggins Mill.  I love the architecture, decay and demise of once beautiful buildings and warehouses that stand rampantly neglected in Eastern NC, and I love the tin roofs and viney, thicketed overgrowth on many old barns that sporadically appear in fields and fight for survival in rural Wilson county.

There seem to be no words imaginable that express how much I love listening to a symphony or orchestra and what comes to mind is the Electric Light Orchestra, but particularly, the Wilson Symphony Orchestra and its small town composition of intricately placed strings, woodwinds and percussion.  No experience can describe how much I love the feeling of salt water tingling on my skin while swimming and swishing and floating in the ocean with my arms wavering and my feet dangling in the vast, cavernous pool of water as the sun beats softly on my face.  How could anyone not love working in a garden or not love plucking the summer’s first tomato or not love harvesting countless bouquets of colorful crimson coquette and delightful dahlias for every room of the house?  Who would have imagined the many expressions and thoughts on love?

Did I mention how much I love God, and the universe we live in?  Has it occured to anybody how much I love my Mother and mes deux chats Ian and Chocolat?  Did I forget to acknowledge how much I love and miss my Father, Jerry, or how much I love and miss my Sister Barbara?  Is there ever a day that passes that I don’t think about and love and miss Dennis or Penny or Aunt Hazel or Allison or Aunt Ruthie?  For the love of life, I think not.  No matter how you feel about this word spelled L-O-V-E, it is real.  Love at first sight, “Love me tender, Love me sweet,” Love yourself, Keep Love in your heart,” If you Love somebody set them free,” “Love means never having to say you’re sorry,”  So much Love.  So many meanings of Love.  So many ways to express Love.  Can you believe I almost forgot?  The score is 15-Love.