Happy Valentine's Day

this morning on the Tube I sat across from a family of three; a young couple quite clearly in love and a three year old boy tying them together. he was telling a joke that had no evidence of a punchline, stumbling on his words and fidgeting with his father's crinkled nose while leaning deeply into his mother's scarlet puffy vest. they got off at the next stop, and I listened to the little boy's joke until his faded voice was cut off by the closing of the doors. still no punchline.

I looked to my left where an older man, gray and weathered, stood holding the hand of a woman who sat beside him. she was hunched over slightly, with a beautiful silver bun and pale blue eyes. I never heard them speak, but just once I caught the man look into his woman's eyes. the smile they shared brought a rush of goosebumps to my forearms and an unexplainable blush to my cheeks.

I got off at Holborn behind two women who had been laughing their pants off the entire ride. something about their "dim-witted husbands". one woman had huge, happy tears welling up in her eyes, threatening the legitimacy of the dark line of mascara that traced her bottom lashes. while she tended to that, she unknowingly drifted toward the "danger: do not enter" tape across the middle escalator, until her friend grabbed her hand and pulled her to the left. that sent them into further cahoots, and they held hands and laughed all the way up and out of the station.

I still can't peel the smile off of my face.

Valentine's Day isn't special, love is special. and Love isn't only about boys and girls holding hands and exchanging Cadbury chocolate assortments. Love is laughing with your best friend until you're unaware of your surroundings. Love is being old and wrinkly but never forgetting each other's beauty. Love is having the patience for the punchlines that never actually surface.

Love is everywhere, and inescapably so. enjoy it.