Valentine’s Day – Pam Grout

Be crazy with love. Love when it makes no sense

February 14, 2018 13 Comments

“We all long for love. Everything else is just killing time.”–Kenny Loggins

Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends!

Here’s my favorite post for this most auspicious day. Enjoy!

Most people hear the word “love” and immediately think of long white dresses, tuxes and diamond rings. Our tendency to associate love with romance is a gaping blind spot. Not only are there millions of people to love (forget your quest to zero in on Mr. or Ms. Right), but there are million of ideas, millions of causes, million of quests to fall in love with.

Take Dale Price, for example. This stay-at-home dad from American Fork, Utah, spent three years waving at his high school son’s bus dressed in weird costumes, a different one every day. It started the first day of his son’s sophomore year when he realized the bus, for the first time, would drive down their street. Price greeted the bus (and his embarrassed son) that first day wearing a football helmet. From there, his creativity grew. He has waved at the bus dressed as Elvis, Fred Flintstone, Santa Claus and, once, a lampshade. He and Rain, the red-faced son, ended up on Good Morning America and the resulting blog, Wave at the Bus, has received millions of hits and raised money for Rain’s college fund, although his dad is quick to admit it may also end up being used for therapy.

The point is, there are lots of ways to make people happy, lots of ways to love. Don’t sit around waiting for your soul mate. Be crazy with love. Love when it makes no sense.

ACIM Lesson 45 (God is the mind with which I think) echoes this sentiment: to think with God is to love in all its bewildering ways, shapes and styles.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her new book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Be crazy with love. Love when it makes no sense.

February 14, 2013 1 Comment

“We all long for love. Everything else is just killing time.”
–Kenny Loggins

Most people hear the word “love” and immediately think of long white dresses, tuxes and diamond rings. Our tendency to associate love with romance is a gaping blind spot. Not only are there millions of people to love (forget your quest to zero in on Mr. or Ms. Right), but there are million of ideas, millions of causes, million of quests to fall in love with.

Take Dale Price, for example. This stay-at-home dad from American Fork, Utah, has spent the past three years waving at his high school son’s bus dressed in weird costumes, a different one every day. It started the first day of his son’s sophomore year when he realized the bus, for the first time, would drive down their street. Price greeted the bus (and his embarrassed son) that first day wearing a football helmet. From there, his creativity grew. He has waved at the bus dressed as Elvis, Fred Flintstone, Santa Claus and, once, a lampshade. He and Rain, the red-faced son, ended up on Good Morning America and the resulting blog, Wave at the Bus, has received millions of hits and raised money for Rain’s college fund, although his dad is quick to admit it may also end up being used for therapy.

Or take Matt Harding who fell in love with traveling. In 2003, while in Hanoi, his traveling buddy videotaped him dancing, a rather kooky arm-flapping, march popular with adolescent boys at middle school dances. And then he videotaped Matt dancing in Tonga. And in the Philippines, Mali and the Panama Canal. The video on the resulting “Where the Hell is Matt?” website shows a grinning Matt bouncing up and down in 69 countries. What’s more, the underlying, if unplanned message of unbounded human joy and connection comes across loud and clear.

“There are no words on the video and I’m not trying to get anybody to doing anything,” Harding say, “It just makes people happy.”

The point is, there are lots of ways to make people happy, lots of ways to love. Don’t sit around waiting for your soul mate. Be crazy with love. Love when it makes no sense. Love in all it bewildering ways, shapes and styles.

Happy Valentine’s Day.