Let Love Speak Up Itself

"Love is a many splendoured thing,

Love lifts us up where we belong,

All we need is love..."

Ewen Mcgreggor - Moulin Rouge

"There are a million ways to love someone, only one of which is sexual"

Minette Walters

Having recently re-read an interview with singer/songwritter Sarah Mclachlan about her song writting process she said it's much easier to write about hearbreak and hurt than it is to write about love becasue she doesn't fully understand love.

So what is love???

I suppose love is a very personal thing and what it means to one person maybe very different to that of someone else. A Paedophile for example will believe what they are doing is through the love of children yet anyone else in society will be hard pressed to see how the abuse of children is out of love. A service user I have mentioned before believed that when she was sexually abused by her uncle that it was because he loved her as he didn't beat her as her father did. Looking at that example then love is clearly a reaction to our environment and upbringing and can vary from person to person depending on our life experiences. Further to this a person who has never experienced heartbreak and hurt may see love very differently to those who are in their first serious relationship and see love as a fairytale.

I'm not entirely sure what love is, it has meant different things to me at different stages of my life I've done besotted, I've done lust and obsession non of which really agreed with me.

With Gavin now I have a love and feel a love that is routed in a joint respect for each other, I have a man who understands my moods, doesn't take offence when I scream becasue he knows I don't mean it, he encourages me and pushes me to do things I don't think that I can, he embrasses my strange habits and traits and doesn't judge me because of them.

I have a family who support me in everything I do and help me when life gets a little hard, I have friends who make me laugh and care for me and offer a good ear when it's needed.

That's what love is to me and yet I guess it may be different for you...

"I have a smile Stretched from ear to ear

To see you walking down the road

We meet at the lights I stare for a while

The world around disappears

Just you and me On this island of hope

A breath between us could be miles

Let me surround you My sea to your shore

Let me be the calm you seek

Oh and every time I'm close to you

There's too much I can't say

And you just walk away

And I forgot To tell you I love you

And the night's Too long And cold here Without you

I grieve in my condition

For I cannot find the strength to say I need you so"