I've got a sneaking suspicion...love actually is all around.

The title of this blog post hails from the 2003 film, Love Actually. The movie tells the stories of all kinds of love - love between strangers, friends, parents and children, couples - and much like this youtube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k), watching it always brings a smile.

Webster's dictionary has nine definitions for the word love, but I prefer #4: "[Love is] an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another."

I tend use the word rather loosely. For example: I love the pizza at Pepe's near the Vieux Marche in downtown Rouen, and I love the warmth of the two wool blankets on my bed here. However, it was the sighting of the following graffiti, and the aide of my friend in translating it, that made me do a double take on the subject.



Roughly, "I love you with all that I am, and I hope that you know who you are."

In my short time here in Normandy, I have been blessed to see beautiful churches, cathedrals, streets, and parks; but this simple piece of art - perhaps an eyesore to some - has really stuck with me.

I like it because it shouldn't be there. I like it because I'll never know if the "you" the quote refers to will ever find out who wrote it. And I like it because the message transcends all cultures and languages. As trite as this may sound, there are more things that bring all the people of this world together than those that separate us. Love is one of those things.

So from Rouen, much love to you all <3