Written by Avery Melhado. Graphic by Linnea Sheneman.
Post-Valentine’s Day, a holiday that is nothing if not divisive in public opinion, it’s easy for some people to be feeling a little down. All the talk of love and relationships can feel exhausting when you’re not experiencing it for yourself. However, as an avid lover of Valentine’s Day, who believes that the holiday is more than just a day for candle-lit dinners and bouquets of roses, I think there’s a lot of love that we should be celebrating. Like Hugh Grant says, “If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.”
I have a joke with my friends that love is all I know how to write about. I don’t mean that in a cheesy way, more in the sense that I truly think love is everywhere, in everything. It’s what makes life worth living, it’s what keeps us going each day. And I’m not talking about romantic love, not in the slightest. I’m talking about the type of love that you don’t notice sometimes, the type of love that is woven into your life through small gestures and acts of kindness.
This type of love is everywhere. It’s not reserved for any special circumstance, any specific friendship or relationship. It’s that friend who drives you to class because you’re on the way anyway. It’s a text from your sister asking if she can borrow a shirt from your closet at home, or a call from your mom asking how your day was. It’s dinner at the dining hall with your roommate. It’s your best friend bending down to tie your shoe when you’re wearing a too-tight, too-short skirt. It’s the friend who lives in your apartment complex making you homemade soup when you get sick. It’s grocery shopping together, a shared list with their favorite fruit and your favorite bagels. It’s the little moments, the little gestures of love from the people who, whether you believe it or not, love you.
But love doesn’t just come from the people in your circle, either. It’s in everything, even the stuff that doesn’t feel like yours. One of my favorite artists, Sky Fusco, says, “Love is all around you even if it is not about you.” I have this quote on my wall, a small print that I look at when I’m in bed. I think it’s a good reminder that love is everywhere, even when you can’t seem to find it. It’s in the trees at the park, the breeze on your walk to class. It’s in the coffee that your favorite barista made just right. It’s going to the farmer’s market, the dogs all playing and the people all together and the lady who you buy bread from giving you a free cinnamon roll. It’s your neighbors covering their plants in the winter, trying to keep them alive. It’s the employees at your favorite local bookstore greeting you by name. It’s a walk with your headphones in, listening to your monthly playlist. Sometimes, it’s just you. Not to say that you have to be in love with yourself, but to acknowledge that you have the capacity to give love and receive love. To embody love.
And maybe the cynics will say none of this is true. That love is fake and nothing really matters. But I’d choose my perspective over theirs any day. Why would you want to go through life without love, without joy? Without appreciating all the little moments that you can? I don’t think that’s much fun at all. I’d rather find beauty and wonder and love in everything rather than nothing.
This is all to say, I think it’s true that love, actual love, is all around. Especially in a city as vibrant as Savannah, all you have to do is step outside to find the love you’ve been looking for. It’s not so black and white as relationships and “I love you”s. There is love out there for you. It’s waiting for you to find it.
