February is definitely the month for love. Whether you are new to romance or an “old hand,” it’s always fun to think about love during February. Hearts are displayed everywhere, there is candy to be bought, flowers to be sent, and dinners out with lovers holding hands.

Oh boy. When we are in our teens and early twenties, love definitely has us in a whirl. Do we really know what it’s all about at that age? We fall in and out of love so many times, don’t we? It could be as simple as “Oh, that boy is really cute. He has blond hair and blue eyes. I think I’m in love.”

Well, as we all know, that kind of love can be labeled as some kind of puppy love, right? But what about a mature, wonderful love, the love that every woman and man on earth only dreams about? How do we get from puppy love to real love, a love that lasts and is respectful and beautiful. Does such a love exist?

When we are young and inexperienced, we think about love in a certain way. We want someone to ask us out (that is, in the days when I was young and dating, many years ago). Romance was an illusion – a feeling that conjured up images of some man wanting to take care of us, protecting us, loving us, no matter what.

Back in those days, in the 60s, we thought that we wanted to have a man, a house, and children. We didn’t realize that we had other options, as the young people do today. We were looking for love without knowing much about ourselves.

What I learned during the seventeen years I was alone between husbands one and two, is that I had to learn to love myself and know who I was, before I could find the true love of my life. I had to learn to accept the past and forgive both myself and others, before I could forward. Basically, I had to learn to heal my heart, so that it would be open and ready for the “right” love to come in.

On this journey called life, we all suffer deceptions of the heart, disappointments, and sadness. But the joy, happiness, and love we can find when we learn to heal the past, will outweigh the deceptions. When we are holding the hand of one who truly loves us, and accepts us, as we accept and love ourselves, past hurts and disappointments will disappear.

And so I’ve learned some things about love that I didn’t know when I was younger. Do I wish I’d known them then? Nah. Then the journey wouldn’t have been as interesting and exciting.

Wishing you all a loving Valentine’s Day celebration!