I've been plopped in the SLC airport for 3 hours now, mostly creeping on people, thinking about people, and editing pictures of people.
Storytime: There's this guy in my ward who sports a thick black braid and who is probably the most vulnerable and genuine person I've ever met. He wears his heart on his sleeve, along with his scars. Yesterday, he looked at me and considered, "I love people for the sake of loving them, not because I expect any love in return. He told me that there was this one girl who he met from Columbia and the first time he saw her he thought "What I wouldn't give just to be her friend. She is like, everything I ever wanted all bundled up into a perfect little package." He chuckled and said "after pulling some strings and working my magic, in a few months, she had kissed me."
He smiled and gleefully noted "she had a boyfriend at the time who was hanging out in New Zealand." He continued explaining that the reason she had kissed him was because he was there for her and she knew it. He cared about her, and knew how to show her that. He had just wanted to be her friend, simply for the sake of being her friend.
"I want people to be torn up when I die, even people I just met. I am not here just to wander around, I am here to meet people and build relationships. When you become my friend, you are my friend, and that means me making time to catch up. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't care enough to ask you how you are doing and keep tabs on your life?"
That got me thinking, do you give your love freely? Do you grant it regardless of what people do or say, or don't do or don't say? Do you love without conditions? How does one learn such a trade?
TBC when I get to the airport in Texas...
PS I'm not saying I condone guys going after girls who have boyfriends already! Just so ya know ha
