Unconditional Love

"Have you ever been unconditionally loved?"

She turns towards him, arms on the couch back, space heater on. "I mean, when they know everything and I mean *everything* about you but they love you. No judgement. No condemnation. Just acceptance. Just love. That was my weekend."

He had not experienced such a thing, that is evident by the look on his face.

"You didn't want to leave, did you?" He asks. She shakes her head. "Yeah," he says, "I could tell."

Aparently it was obvious.

She missed them the moment she walked out the door. She talked about them endlessly during the 90 minute drive home. She talked about moving to Emporia.

"Don't do that," he said. "I've lived there."

She laughed. She had laughed more in the past 36 hours than...

Coming home, sitting in front of the fireplace, she had said the words she'd wanted to say... words she had wanted everyone to hear. Unconditional love. He had just put down the guitar he'd been playing. She had gathered her book and journal. He'd turned off the fireplace. They were heading upstairs to bed. Unconditional love. She knew he longed for it just as she did. Just as every person with breath had a desire to be so loved.

Just as you are.

"They know everything?" He asks.

"Yeah," she says. "Pretty much."

Life. Mistakes. Choices. Regrets. Failures. Hopes. Dreams.

"Harmonie gave me some good advice. I love you and all, but its good to get other opinions from time to time. Shes more grounded than you and I are. Shes got that frankness of heart I need to hear sometimes. And I trust what she says."

He considers this.

She had been considering it for 48 hours. Love. Friendship. The common bond of belief and truth and purpose. What to do next.

Her sweater smells like lavender. She relishes the moment. She was sad to leave such a sacred place but she knew her purpose. She journaled it when she got home.

Happiness is a choice.

And the future is real and trustworthy and full of surprises. She knows this and will share this and will stand unafraid. How affirming to stand beside friends and affirm truth. How rare and how beautiful.

The fire goes out. They walk upstairs. Peace is in her heart. No more words need to be spoken and she can tell he's still contemplating the weight of her words.

Unconditional love on this side of Heaven. Could it be true?