What is love? Actually!

Physics, chemistry ... or alchemy of the highest order?

Is it that magic combustion that happens when you meet the *right* person? That fierce bright flame that rises hot and crackling, and melts even the hardest of barriers that guard our innermost desires ...

Or is it that slow burn in the cockles of a heart that learns to appreciate what makes somebody so utterly special that they become incandescent forever in the crucible of your soul.

Either way love for me is a relationship on fire. Whether it burns out quickly or lasts a lifetime depends on the quality of the souls that come together. Whether they combust like gasoline into a raging torrent that destroys everything they touch or they become like coals that glow deep inside themselves and remain unquenchable even after those first sparks that set them alight is gone ...

Love!!! One way or the other it will destroy your heart and turn your relationships to ashes, or make it a warmer place for all. And if love has never set your heart alight, it will remain as cold as the dawn of a winter sky.

But to those who understand that love is also a covenant, something that is kindled by soul to soul, from parent to child ... they will realize that love is also a covenant so sacred that they may even have to give up their lives to keep this fire burning on in those they have cherished and consecrated with the purity of their love.

So here's to St. Valentine who was martyred to death for bringing lovers together for life.