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What is Love?

Baby, don't hurt me.

Sorry about that.
This entry should really fall under the "makes you wonder" category and thus the other blog, but it's something that I've been thinking about since moving to Chicago, so it stays here - as this is the Chicago/entertainment world/whatever it is blog.

I was on the bus home from the first time I've ever done improv on a stage in front of people who weren't my classmates (went alright, more nerve wracking than I expected) and I got to thinking.

Over the last month or so I've had to say goodbye to an awful lot of people. Not permanent goodbyes, thankfully, as I think I've done a pretty good job keeping up with most of them.
These people are my closest friends and family and they mean the world to me.
So when I tell these people that I love them, it comes as no surprise. They say it back in most cases, and we go on our way.

But we never stop and try to articulate it.

There were at least two people who I had planned on having long, emotional talks with in order to try articulating what they meant to me, but in both cases the emotional toll was too high and nothing substantial came out.

It's incredibly hard to say what you feel. But try it.

Sometimes it comes out slowly over time, sometimes it just rushes out of you in one fell swoop. But my god, it makes a difference.

If I told you that I loved you, loyal reader, your reaction would be slightly flattered, but that's about it.

But if I told you that I loved the way you look at me, or that I loved that some idiotic thing you saw at the grocery store made you absolutely need to call me, or if I know that we both thought exactly the same things but couldn't say them because we were both too busy crying. Those mean more.
I love the little things, and the little things are where it gets emotional. Sharing a memory that's stuck with you forever, or a memory that led to some sort of epiphany in your life...that's much more powerful than just assuming that the other person understands what "love" means.

You often hear that it's a "loaded word," but it's over-loaded. It's so loaded that elements of it get lost in the shuffle.

My challenge is for you to say those elements. Call someone and tell them that you love them, but then tell them why. It can be your best friend, your brother/sister/parent/grandparent, your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/fiance/e. I don't care who it is, just say something you haven't said before to see how it feels and how they react.

Only got one chance at this wild and precious life, folks.
Get after it.


On a lighter note, I'm 24 and the expression "hump day" still makes me giggle from time to time.



and PS, I'll write about improv and comedy sketch-writing classes soon, I swear.

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