Love is not a word but an action... Do you believe in love? Are you in love? Were you in love? Do you want to be in love? This is not about dating but an honest look at love, about its fragility and vulnerability. Do we too easily fall in love? Like falling into a fast flowing river are we being swept along by a tide of emotion? Or is it true in the words of John Lennon that 'All you need is love'?
This blog is not about massage but something more important; about relationships and our attitudes toward love.
I will add to it regularly. Hope you find it stimulating. Let me know what you think.
Quote of the Day
The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
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Nov 18, 2008, Chapter Two - Love Changes Everything. Part 3.
As a consequence of Angel’s trouble at school, Joe had a lot of contact with her mother Flora. Joe felt for the girl and was well aware of her mother’s previous abused past and wanted to help as much as he could. He even went as far as calling at their home when Flora had rung him in a deeply distressed state. Flora began to depend upon Joe emotionally and he felt himself being drawn into her life. Flora had been an attractive lady, with long wavy red hair, green eyes and a slim figure but the difficulties of the years had lined her face and given her a constant frown but still when she smiled, a glint of her previous vigour shone through. Joe wanted to help her get back on her feet and put the past behind her and he also wanted to help Angel too.
His desire to help them drew him and Flora together and then one day he gave her his home number. He knew that professionally he should not do this but once done it was done and soon she began to call him at home on a regular basis. Trudy remonstrated with him, saying he was getting too close the Flora and Angel. “It’s not professional,” she had said in a rebuking tone but Joe shrugged off her complaints. He knew he liked Flora but he had no intention at being emotionally involved. At least that is what he told himself. Then one day he happened to be passing Flora’s home and decided on the spur of the moment to call in. He found Flora in a sad mood. She made him tea and he sat of the sofa to drink with her. She started unburdening herself to him and at one point started to cry. It was the moment he compromised his role as a head teacher and let her put his head on his shoulder. In a moment of weakness he put his arm around her and she sank into his arms.
It didn’t go any further than that but he had let his guard down and let Flora cross the barrier from which there is no return for her. Flora needed someone to comfort her and protect her from her bad feelings. She saw Joe as a man who could do that and from that moment on, wanted to be with him. He had showed her tenderness and concern, something she had not experienced in many years. She considered that his calling on her was a signal from him that he felt the same way as her. Her calls to his mobile and his home became more frequent, sometimes with excuses she had simply made up for the purpose of calling. Trudy began to get suspicious and accused her husband of having an affair with Flora. He became defensive and tried to defend Flora’s actions but this only fuelled his wife’s suspicions.
Nov 18, 2008, Chapter Two - Love Changes Everything. Part 1.
It’s probably a true fact that everybody falls in love at least once in their lives. Some people fall in love many times and some people think they have fallen in love but are not sure.
The thing about falling in love is that once it happens you will never be the same person again. It is not possible to fall in love, fall out of love and then pretend it didn’t happen because there is no going back. Once the notion of love hits you, you are forever hooked, no matter how short the period or feeling of love exists. Idyllic teenage freedom can be shattered by the encounter with love. Young friendships can be broken by the arrival for one of that special person; the one they are to fall in love with. And long term adult relationships can be brought tumbling down when the trust bound up in love is broken.
There is not going back once this feeling strikes. It changes you, the way you feel and it can even change the way you see life. People have dropped out of school, split from their families, run away from home, broken deep friendships and some have committed crime all for the sake of this notion of love. This feeling that they have reached the pinnacle of their existence and met the person life has destined for them, is indeed an overpowering Lives are turned upside down by chance encounters or by catching the one you’ve had your eye on for years.
In one respect, it is a kind of madness which strikes people when this feeling comes upon them. They can be going about their ordinary sedate lives, then suddenly Bang! They’re almost dancing in the street. Mood is greatly enhanced and they are singing in public, forgetting to eat, daydreaming when they should be working, buying crazy gifts and writing endless letters. They exhibit characteristics which they never exhibited before and sometimes revert to an almost childlike way of being. Compulsive behaviours begin and sometimes even dangerous ones appear. What is more, some fall in love with the wrong person or for the wrong reason. Marriages are wrecked, even good ones because one of the parties goes astray or receives the misplaced love of another.
Nov 18, 2008, Chapter Two - Love Changes Everything. Part 2.
Joe and Trudy had been married for fourteen years. Both were in the teaching profession. Joe was a head teacher and Trudy a deputy head but at different schools. They have three children: Matthew who is twelve, James who is nine and Ruth who is seven. Joe and Trudy used to go to church regularly until a year ago; now only Trudy goes alone.
The problem started for Joe at school. He’d been a teacher for twenty years and had become head teacher at his school. A new girl arrived at school during the middle of the term. Her name was Angel and she was twelve years old. Her mother Flora had been in an abusive relationship and had been forced to move to a new home away from the town where she had previously lived with her boyfriend. So it was that Angel arrived at Joe’s school but Angel was no angel and soon became one of Joe’s ‘problem children’. She skipped school, showed disrespect to teachers and got into fights with other pupils. It was clear to Joe that Angel had a lot of emotional problems caused by her previous home life. It was suspected that her father may have abused her sexually but if she had been, she would never say.
As a consequence of Angel’s trouble at school, Joe had a lot of contact with her mother Flora. Joe felt for the girl and was well aware of her mother’s previous abused past and wanted to help as much as he could. He even went as far as calling at their home when Flora had rung him in a deeply distressed state. Flora began to depend upon Joe emotionally and he felt himself being drawn into her life. Flora had been an attractive lady, with long wavy red hair, green eyes and a slim figure but the difficulties of the years had lined her face and given her a constant frown but still when she smiled, a glint of her previous vigour shone through. Joe wanted to help her get back on her feet and put the past behind her and he also wanted to help Angel too.
Nov 13, 2008, The Human Body
THE HUMAN BODY. Human body muscles and structure. Facts about your body and why massage is good for you.
