{"id":29075,"date":"2024-01-30T11:28:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T16:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mentordiscoverinspire.org\/?p=29075"},"modified":"2024-12-13T14:35:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T19:35:07","slug":"what-is-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mentordiscoverinspire.org\/what-is-love\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Love?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Dylan Jack James I learned early on that love is more than a feeling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It started with little Maggie in the third grade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. Dark brown hair fell in ringlets across her shoulders and matched her big brown eyes. She wore pretty little dresses to school each day and was extremely shy. She would invite me over to her house; hardly a peep came out of her mouth while she played with her dolls. I was bored watching her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a beautiful summer morning and the park\u2019s enticing jungle gym beckoned. \u201cCome on, let\u2019s go down to the playground, Maggie!\u201d She really didn\u2019t have a choice as I led her by the hand away from her group of dolls and down the fenced path to excitement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I climbed to the top of the jungle gym. Its metal bars hot from the morning sun. Maggie stood at the bottom and stared at me. \u201cClimb up!\u201d I insisted. \u201cI\u2019m scared,\u201d she muttered in her shy breathy voice. \u201cI got ya, don\u2019t worry,\u201d I coaxed. She climbed the intimidating metal structure very slowly and almost made it to the last rung. Then her shoe slipped and she tumbled all the way to the bottom, landing with a thud on the cement. I scrambled down the bars and held her head in my hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you OK?\u201d Her eyes opened and then shut, a pool of blood dripped out from under her dark locks onto my hands. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll get help, Maggie! Don\u2019t move!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I ran home at lightning speed and told my mom. She called an ambulance. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived at the playground. We ran down the path and met them there. My mom told me later that the paramedics said if it wasn\u2019t for my quick thinking Maggie could have died. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I learned a deeper love that day than the crush I had on little Maggie. A love which involved responsibility and remaining calm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maggie came home with a big white bandage on her head and many stitches. I knew right then and there I wanted to marry this girl. There is an old Chinese proverb: \u201cIf you save somebody\u2019s life, you are responsible for them forever.\u201d I wanted to be her forever hero, but unfortunately she and her family moved away shortly thereafter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That year seemed to find me in situations that required me to put my love into action. My five-year-old brother was riding his two-wheeler down the street while I followed him on my bike. He hit a raised part of the sidewalk and flew off the front of his bike, headlong onto the pavement. I plowed into him from behind and skinned my knees. My heart raced as he lay on the sidewalk in great pain. I kneeled next to him and he looked up at me before his eyes started rolling into the back of his head. His chin bone protruded with blood, the flesh torn clean off from the accident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once again I found myself running for help, back to my house. A repeat of the ambulance, but this time a long ride in it with my mom and brother. I was told that had I not acted as quickly as I did, it could have been far worse. Eighteen stitches later, and a beauty of a scar to show for it, he was OK. The love I had for my pesky little brother, whom I always teased, changed that day to a strong brotherly love that continued through our growing-up years. I was starting to understand that loving someone meant a whole lot more than my nine-year-old self thought it meant. That summer I learned not to take people for granted. I learned that anything can happen to remove them from my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have given and received so much love in my life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Too much to even list here, but there is so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My 61-year-old self has learned that love is more than romance, more than sexual desire, more than flowers, candy and hearts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Love is sacrifice and in the words of my wise father, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you what love is, it\u2019s what your mother and I have \u2026 commitment, staying together when things get rough.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n 60+ years of life experience taught me that. It\u2019s the kind of love that transcends decades, even in death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dylan Jack JamesGuest Contributor I learned early on that love is more than a feeling. It started with little Maggie in the third grade. I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. Dark brown hair fell in ringlets across her shoulders and matched her big brown eyes. She wore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":29201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dylan-jack-james","category-successful-committed-relationships"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Guest Contributor <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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