February 14th: A Valentine's post, sort of ish

What is the most beautiful phrase in the English language?


Would I be correct if I said the phrase "I love you" springs to mind? Most people would agree with that, I think. I. Love. You. Three small, separate words but carrying so much power and such immense meaning that it's hard to get your head around it. I mean think about it. I, an ordinary person, nobody special, feel love - and all its entailments; respect, pride, trust - for you, another individual. I feel so strongly about you that I am willing to spend my life cohabiting with you; I am willing to allow your presence in my life to change my way of living; I am willing to share life-changing decisions with you; to become less of one and more of a half; to create an emotional weakness through which anybody could hurt or enrage me by interfering with you or with our relationship; to become unable to function to my full capacity without you.


I have never been in love. Perhaps that's obvious. Despite this, to me, "I love you" is kind of amazing. I mean, put yourself now in the shoes of the person hearing this delicious phrase. Yes, "I", the person speaking, am an ordinary person, nobody special, but to you, if my love is requited, I am not. To you I am the whole world. How can one person mean so much to another person? How?


Amazing, yes. But the most beautiful? Perhaps not. If I had been in love, perhaps I would agree with all those people who would plump for "I love you"... but to me, the most beautiful phrase in the English language is "I know you". Because if somebody can show you that they know you - really know you -, that they can get right down inside the depths of your brain and know what you're thinking, how you're feeling, and what that says about how much they care about you to know how to do that; that seems pretty damn beautiful to me. To me, "I know you" entails "I love you", along with a lot of other things. Most human beings don't open up to just anyone; there has to be trust, so to truly know someone they have to trust you with everything. And of course I'm not just talking about romantic love, but all sorts - family love, friendship love... platonic love. That is something I have experienced, as have most people... a loving family or true friends or, if you're lucky, as I am, both. They say friends are the family you choose, but like finding romantic love, not everybody you meet will be right for you. Friendships, like relationships, end all the time - but I once heard a phrase saying that everybody who walks out of your life is just making room for someone better, someone who truly knows you, whatever that may entail - and loves you for it.


So to all you people who don't have a special person to celebrate this Valentine's day with, I say who cares? You may be single today, but who knows where you'll be a year from now? Don't worry about it. Love's kind of a big deal... to find someone to spend forever with means you've got forever to find them, so don't rush it. It'll happen when it's meant to, and until then, there is nothing wrong with being (as Becky once put it) single and ready to mingle!


Molly x


(P.S. Once again sorry for the gaps between the paragraphs! Believe me, they annoy me just as much as they annoy you, but I've just spent the last half an hour trying to get rid of them, to no avail. Alas!)