A life of love

On my shelf there's a special book, its pages worn and creased. I bought it long ago, perhaps at in the children's section at Barnes and Noble. It's "Love you Forever" by Robert Munsch.

When my children were growing up, it was a must read before naps and at bedtime.

Even looking at its cover here brings back memories of all of the places we read it and of the shelves and closets where we hunted for it at story time.

The book follows a boy through his life - and his mother's love for him.  Whether he's flushing a watch down the toilet as a toddler or being a terrible teenager, his mother always gives him unconditional love.  Eventually, the boy expresses the same love for her - and tenderly holds her in her old age.

Valentine's Day is this week.  OK, I know this book is about a different kind of love, but love is love. A recent study found that about 15% of women send flowers to themselves at work on that day. No one should have to pretend that they are loved. Everyone should know love, whether it's romantic love - or the love that Robert Munsch writes about.

To me, love is demonstrated in small and personal moments. Many of these are described in simple ways in Munsch's book. These moments are almost always not fully appreciated until they've long passed.  Then we remember them in the sweetness of their context.

I have had many of those moments, which I cherish.

-  A teenager who holds my hand in the car
-  My twelve year old son, smiling at me as I laughed with his friends at his birthday party
-  When my parents bought me a present on my sister's birthday
-  My mother, who always took me for a milk shake after my doctor's appointment
-  My father, arriving unexpectedly at the hospital when my first child was born
-  My children, hugging each other when they come home from college
-  All those text messages that say, "Hey, dad" but I know mean, "I love you, dad"

This book, "Love you Forever" has sold 15,000,000 copies worldwide. And the reason so many people have this book on their shelves is because it tells a universal story of simple, unconditional love; unwavering and unchanging throughout a lifetime, illustrated in small ways, each day.

And it's love. What we should think about on Valentine's Day. Love for each other. Love for our mothers and fathers.

Love for someone who can look into your heart and make you tingle.