Love
What I know
When I received an email from Medium saying I was named a top writer in the Love tag, I wondered how this happened. I’m certainly no expert, but I have had a fair share of experiences with falling in love, having my heart broken, being confused, sure of myself, and otherwise mystified and broken down by this thing called love.
The email explained they choose writers whose stories have generated significant reading time. I recently had three such stories. I’m no expert, but the email was for real:
GREAT WORK, VICTORIA PONTE
Congratulations! You are now a top writer in Love.
This milestone will appear on your profile and on the Love tag page. Learn more about how top writers are selected.
The milestone comes near a significant anniversary for me. On Valentine’s Day, 1999, I survived a severe stroke while I was 35 and pregnant.
While some would call this a “terrible” anniversary, I have always celebrated Valentine’s Day for the past 20 years as a day to celebrate being alive and the fact that I have friends and family who love me. The baby I was carrying when I had the stroke will turn 21 this April.
I felt a certain synchronicity to the events of being named top writer in the Love tag coming 5 days before the 21st anniversary of that fateful Valentine’s Day which changed my life forever.
It made me try to collect my thoughts on love since I seem to have enough wisdom to interest readers here on Medium who have spent considerable time reading what I have to say.
This is what I know for sure about love:
- Love at first sight is definitely a real thing. It happens when each of us is born. We see our mother and we love her and vice versa.
- Romantic love is no match for the pull of an addiction. An addict can’t choose you over their substance of choice. I have been in 2 such relationships that ended when my lover and my husband were not able to choose me over their addiction.(not at the same time)Most of us have witnessed this.
- New love makes us feel euphoric.
- We feel devastated when long term love ends. (This can happen with shorter term relationships, too.)
- Love can make us feel unsure of ourselves.
- Love can make us feel too sure of ourselves.
- We can make stupid decisions and do very dumb things in the name of love. It certainly doesn’t make us smarter.
- Jealousy is one of the most highly charged emotions that is often stirred up by love. Jealous lovers have been known to seem to be out of their minds.
Those are a few facts about love I have gathered in 56 years. Through the highs and lows, heartbreak, devastation and joy, I still feel love is a gamble worth taking. Maybe that’s why I was named a top writer in the Love tag a week before Valentine’s Day.
