DAILY WRITING PROMPT: True love is when…
I should’ve posted this on Valentine’s Day, but I figured ‘Better Late than Never’.
“True love means different things to every person,” Marisol recited her English essay. The class sat silent, each rehearsing their own speech to the class in their minds. Marisol knew few were listening, but she continued with a sigh.
“My mom and dad were married twenty-eight years ago. They fight, sometimes they’ll sleep in different rooms, and they even stop talking for a couple of days, but they always forgive. Do they have true love?” Marisol spoke, looking across the room. Every classmate's eyes looked at their own papers. Marisol paused, considering her next words. “I could rattle on, explaining the different stereotypical loves, puppy, infatuations, teenage, physical, and the other labels people love to use. But none of these loves are true love.” Two students paused and looked at her ready to argue.
“True Love is a basic–uncomplicated love. A love that allows a person to grow, to learn, and to love in return. True love means you give yourself to another person as long as that other person reciprocates. There should be respect in love, communication, and an ability to walk away if the loved person’s best interest is that need. True love has no jealousy, no possession, and no control over another person.” Marisol persevered, slowing to catch her breath. Most of the class was now listening.
“I’ve seen true love, and it was in my grandparents. They fell in love while in high school, like us… kids, but grandpa went to war as soon as they graduated. Grandma kissed him goodbye, Grandpa promised to come home safe. Grandma waited, writing him letters every day, and grandpa wrote back occasionally, professing his loyalty and love.” A tear crept into her eye. “Months passed, and grandma hadn’t heard from grandpa. So, she called. Grandma found him in a VA Hospital. Grandpa refused to see her or talk to her, asking the staff to relay his message, ‘Forget me! I’m half a man and you deserve a whole man’. Grandma refused, sneaking her way into the hospital. Unbeknownst to anyone, grandma nursed grandpa back to health.” Marisol sniffed.
“Grandpa didn’t come home safe, he came home wounded, he had burns over sixty percent of his body. His head bandaged for six months with nothing but his nose and mouth exposed, grandma took care of him. Grandpa didn’t know it was grandma. Oh, he suspected, and he hoped. Grandma's love gave him the hope and love he needed to live,” Marisol stuttered with a hiccup.
“Grandma and grandpa married within the year and are still together to this day. They walk together silently, holding hands; grandma has been his wife, lover, confidant, and even his eyes for sixty-five years and grandpa has partnered with her every step of the way. You see love doesn’t care if you’re beautiful or perfect. True love insists that you love unconditionally, with purity and truth.” Marisol left the podium with tears dripping off her lashes and the entire room watching her every movement, nodding.
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