No other love.

There is no other love quite like the love you have for yourself, your family, that one special person who you couldn't imagine life without, your children, your pet.  The list is long and narrow, holding only the most important people in your life inside.

Some people have several loves in their life.  Others have just a few.  Whatever the number is, there is no other love like the kind you have for the people who help make up your life or the ones who constantly pick you up when you fall, and for the ones who see you for who you truly are.

If I had to have a number, I would estimate it to be somewhere between the 30-50 range.  But of those, there are about 15 great loves I have.  People who have walked into my life when I least expected it, people who have been with me since birth or elementary school, and people who changed my life as I knew it.

To them, there is no other love quite like the love I feel for them.  They are permanent tattoos on my heart I would never remove and that I know 100% will be there for all eternity.  That is what I love about love.  It takes a hold of you with such a mighty force and makes you want to live freely and confidently and bravely, for a lifetime.

Via Pinterest 

Of course I love so many people in my life, but I've learned throughout the years that you cannot make everyone love you back the same way.  How I love others may not be the same way they love me.  And I am completely okay with that.  The beauty of that truth is that it makes love more real.  When you can allow others to love you the way they want to love you, that is magic in of itself.

And though it has taken many years and several misunderstandings and heartache for me to get, I know now.  And knowing, no matter how long it has taken you, is a phenomenal blessing.

I am so incredibly happy with life.  I embrace every trial and tribulation, every tear, every prayer that was left unanswered, because as Garth Brooks sometimes says, "sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers." And I do.  I am so blessed to have so many unanswered prayers.  It makes me whole.  It makes me more appreciative.  It makes me more alive.  And I love it all.

There is no other love than the love you share.  Nothing compares.  The love you give out is made specially for you.  The love you receive in return is incomparable.

On that note, it's time for me to hit the sack.  With love in my heart, I smile.  I smile for so many reasons.