Shining Love


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The word of the week is love.
I stepped into Alisha’s room this morning to get her ready for school. She was already awake at 6:00 a.m., which is common. As soon as I turned the light on, a giant grin rose on her face. That too is common.
“Good morning sunshine,” I greeted her. Her mouth and eyes parted wide, legs and arms shrunk close to her body as her head pushed down and up in the pillow before she released a shriek of joy.
“Shhh,” I told her, placing my finger over my mouth to signal ‘quiet’. Louder eruptions beamed.
I did not feel amused like her. I walked into the kitchen to check on the coffee brewing. Still not ready, I returned to Sunshine.
As soon as I entered the room, her eyes found me, following me around as I tended to her needs. Jeff always says it’s ridiculous how much she loves me. If we are both in the room, she won’t even look at him.
“I’m here too Alisha,” he will tell her. He will even stand in front of me to block her view. She'll turn her head past his to find me and when she does, shrieks of joy explode.
I went back to the routine of prepping Alisha for her day while she continued to radiate love on me. It didn’t matter to Alisha that she was completely dependent on me to do the simplest task for her. Not an ounce of self-pity, resentment, jealousy, or grouchiness came between us. Nothing interfered, obstructed her love. Nothing.
Reflecting on my word of the week love…
The English word love is defined as desire. It is also Latin for lief which means free. So, what is the definition of free, you ask? According to Noah (Webster), free means to remove from a thing any encumbrance or obstruction.
Alisha is imprisoned by a body that can’t work as it should, yet lives free to love, ridiculously love.

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