The Trouble With Love Is...

The Trouble with love is, people hurt us. They let us down, disappoint us, leave us, and sometimes they even die. Love isn't safe, so I built a fortified wall around my heart. For my safety, I didn't let love in

People leave me. People leave us. I have loved and lost over and over again. Heart ache became the mortar for my fortress wall. Every brick laid was formed by a memory of a loss, a hurt, a confirmation, a reminder that love isn't safe.

I built my fortress and slammed shut the gate. It got lonely. No new faces, no new memories. I was surrounded only by the brick and mortar. Isolation is robbery of the heart.

The trouble with love is, we must also grieve. Truthfully, as long as we love, we will also then grieve. But when we grieve, when we hurt, we must also realize we hurt only because we allowed ourselves to love.

I was safe in my fortress, but alone. To avoid hurt, we must avoid love. To avoid love is to not feel, to not feel is to not live. 

Let down the gate, tear down the walls. Allow love to enter. Embrace it with a hug and tip your hat to the grief that follows. Embrace the tears. They are the heritage of hurt, love, and joy. To silence one, is to silence them all.

The trouble with love is there is no guarantee. To love is to be courageous, to be courageous is to be vulnerable with no guarantee. To be vulnerable is to open yourself up to Joy, love, and hurt.

Let us love courageously.