you had me at hello

It’s a Jerry Maguire kind of day. Okay, not really. But if you’ve seen the movie I think you can agree with me that this scene is the best scene. Jerry professes his love to Dorothy rambling on and on and on, and Dorothy replies with You had me at ‘hello.’

Whether you love this holiday or hate it, the idea that love has its own special day is, for a lack of a better word, lovely. Love between lovers, love between parent and child, love between friends, let’s celebrate love!

I leave you with a poem that my husband gave me in the early days of our relationship. I remember it vividly because it was the first piece of poetry to ever move me to tears. Maybe it was because I already knew I loved him? (I was a chicken and didn’t say those three words until I knew he felt the same.) Maybe it was because he publicly posted that on my MySpace page? (You guys, I feel so old admitting that). I don’t know, but this poem will forever stay with me.

 XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

– Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephen Tapscott