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     Mr. Peters once asked in our Color Theory class, “we all know that love is red but what color is romance?” I raised my hand confidently. “Ms. Young, what color is Romance?” He asked. I answered, very sure of myself, “hot pink!” With a little grin my teacher said, “if romance is hot pink than I would like to know what color is passion because for most people romance is soft and sweet almost like a soft pink, color close to baby pink”. I blushed in my chair. “And Ms. Young, I would like to see you when you are being romantic because yours will be hot and steaming”. The whole class laughed and my face was color of love by then. I know now that Mr. Peters was not wrong, but nor was I. People see the world in different colors and everybody has different opinions.

     So, I asked my two boys what is their interpretation of love. My two year old son’s reaction was, “I love you, mommy”. I smiled in reply to his enthusiastic face and asked again, “I know, honey, but what is love? Do you know?”

     He looked at me blankly so I rephrased the question, “Matt, how do you know that you love me?” I asked.

     “I know I love you be-cau-se I look for you when I wake up.” He said with a kiss on my cheek. Ok, that was sweet but what do you want from a two year old.

     Then my twelve year old Chris said “It’s someone you want to spend all your time with”. They may have a ten year age gap but they both answered my question the same way. Their feelings defined what love was.

     I think love is those feelings and much more. Like the saying goes “love is many splendid things.” There are many splendid things that make up love: feelings, romance, passion, caring and nurturing. Yes, but I also think there is one other element—Endurance: endurance of feeling after passion subsides, keeping up romance after mystery is gone. True love endures after celebrating the good times and it gives you strength to stand by your loved ones through bad moments in life. One needs endurance to deal with the mundane every day, the unromantic stuff like cooking, changing diapers, helping loved ones destress out of a bad day, encouraging the best out of them to grow together. I am lucky enough to experience love in all its different forms but I have to say, I was passionately moved with love when Chris made me a card and wrote: