what's it got to do with anything?

Love. What is it? And why do we crave it so much? It is like we were made with something inside of us that has an insatiable desire to be loved. But, not only to be loved, but TO love. We try and fill it with lots of stuff. People. Any. Thing.

Why?

I have become very cautious of how I use the word love lately. Yeah, I go to Starbucks but do I really LOVE it? Can you really love some thing? Love must be received. Held onto. So can a kids hot chocolate really receive my LOVE? (Yes, that is one of my regular drinks) Sure, I can thoroughly enjoy the way that it satisfies a certain desire but can it really be the object of my love and in return fulfill my desire to be loved? I'm trying to catch myself when I use the word 'love'. There aren't many people that I actually love. I try and show lots of people acts of love but to say that I actually love them would be a lie.

Is that wrong?

I could count on maybe 3 fingers the number of people I actually love outside of my mom, dad and two brothers. Yet, I throw the word around in casual conversation. "I love this" or "Love you man". But do we really? Sometimes, I wish there were another word with the meaning "I really enjoy you and am on my way to loving you but there are still uncertainties that haven't been worked out yet". All we have in the English is the word "like" which usually isn't strong enough and the word "love" which we have devalued and really is too strong for what we use it for.

Sometimes, when I'm talking to people, I will tell them "I really like you" and to me, in my mind, that is one of the strongest emotions I can c0nvey to a person. I don't like having to do that but I use more my tone than my words. Because I don't know of a word that would fit.

Please, if you have thoughts, leave them. I really would like to hear them and know what others are thinking.