love
Judy Clement Wall
author. lover. cheesecake enthusiast.
Author Judy Clement Wall recently finished her first book, a literary novel about love (and some other things). She also has a blog, Zebra Sounds. http://zebrasounds.net
In January, I made a public declaration that 2011 would be my year of loving fearlessly. About a week before, I’d been sitting in a coffee shop. It was raining outside. I was wet and cold, struggling with a book review I’d agreed to write and waiting for someone who’d already called to say he was going to be late. A woman was talking loudly on her cell phone and I was trying hard to kill her with my best, most murderous stare, when a friend texted me. “Hey J,” the text said, “You’re beautiful. Love Hayley.”
It’s weird how profoundly that text affected me, how I couldn’t have felt more loved, more warmed, more emotionally altered if she’d actually walked into the cafe and hugged me.
I started my Love Project a few days later, because I didn’t want to forget what that sudden, unexpected connection felt like, and I knew I would if I didn’t actively grab hold of it and make it into … a project.
Since then, I’ve been making love happen. Consciously. Boldly. I give myself (and my readers) love assignments. I check in. I write, read, and talk about love all the time. I’m a zealot. A warrior.
I want love to be my default setting. Not just the sweet, let’s-all-try-to-get-along kind of love, but the fierce, messy, searching kind, the kind that breaks you open, empties you out, and then fills you up in perfect and utterly unexpected ways.
Being that open is a risky way to live, no doubt – putting faith in humanity despite all the reasons humanity gives us to lose faith. But I believe there are people out there whose love will change how I see and move in the world. Finding them and connecting with them takes a certain amount of fearlessness, and that’s okay, because here’s what I’ve learned …
Love doesn’t happen to us, it happens because of us, because of who we are and what we do. It happens because we make it happen, because we choose it. On any given day, we have the opportunity again and again to choose isolation, withdrawal, anger, fear … or love. Love is untidy. It’s unpredictable. It’s often inconvenient and occasionally terrifying. Love happens, I’m convinced, when we’re magnificent and badass enough to make it happen.
I intend to be badass.
- Judy Clement Wall
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Today's Poll
When was the last time you sat down with someone and listened to their stories?
Our Take
love • Untidy, imperfect, delectable bursts of pure, unadulterated, gooey goodness.
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