Love is Squared

In 1980 I felt that my oldest son, John, then seventeen months old needed a playmate. I quickly set about "making that happen". Just before Jimmy was born I began to feel panic about whether I could ever love another child as much as I loved John. I could not understand how I would be able to divide my love for John & share it with another child. Perhaps my being an only child, or that I was still a child, explains my lack of insight about the nature of love. It was after Jimmy's birth, the nursing, the diapering, the playing with, and the bonding with my new infant, that I came to realize that love is multiplied rather than divided among people. In fact, I've recently realized that it's not even multiplied. Love is actually quadratic in nature. Meaning that love increases by the square of the number of people you have in your life to love. I started with the love for my parents, then my husband, then my children, then their spouses, now their children. How could could I have known this before. I'm so grateful that I know this now. Sometimes I feel so full of love that my heart gives ways to spontaneous tears.

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