Day 19–Love is a drug

*A big thank you to Henry Petty for stepping in today as the guest writer for the “28 days of love” project. Henry is one of the most loving people I know; so grateful to call him a friend! Check out his blog.*

Love is a drug – it’s euphoric, and I give and receive lots of it.

I’m grateful for those who love me because without love, there would be no reason to live.

I’m grateful that love is free of charge.  You can’t buy love.  I can’t pay my doctors to love me; they’re only there to help me and because I pay them for their time.  I can’t pay my physical therapist to love me. Although the massages are amazing, there are no hugs or endearing soulful connections.  While it feels great at the time, and is quite physically helpful, when I walk out that door, that is it.

Arguably, chocolate is about as close as one can get to buying that euphoric feeling of love, but even then it falls short of opening those floodgates to allow the love to pour in and nearly drown me.

My grandma raised me, and she is a person who gave me unconditional love.  She loved me no matter what I did or what interests I had – I was and always will be “Grandma’s peter punk”  (I still don’t know where that name came from). It was an overwhelming feeling, a lot of times taken for granted, to be unconditionally loved by someone.  I was always in good hands, and I always reciprocated that love.  I’ve encountered other people in my life that came very very close to that unconditional love, but there’s something about Grandma that is unexplained.  Not to knock anyone I’ve known since then, as I am also grateful for their love.

I’ve given love to many and received love from many – neither costing a penny.  I’m always awkward when talking business with friends, because I don’t want love to override a good deal or for them to feel I’m taking advantage of their friendship.

A friend once gave me a “get well card” and wrote “your Grandma’s love is powerful, but not touching the surface of the love of God. “  I have experienced overwhelming love while in deep prayer, and it has brought me to tears.

While I am a frugal person – love is always something that has been free of charge and thus readily available to me.  The feeling of knowing that I am good enough to be loved and to give love to others is completely awesome.

And it doesn’t cost a penny.