Good morning Nerdfighters, it's Friday...

August 8 2014 Friendship Part 2 (The Strange Love)

Goodmorning Nerdfighters, it's Friday. As you know, last week I did a segment about friendship where you met my stage family, the Mendelschtapps. My original intent was to save a part two or even a possible slew of entries that would appear throughout the course of this next year or the course of life in general. No entries about the same thing back-to-back. Except some really awesome stuff happened this week and I don't think it's fair to make you all wait.

So, the most important thing. Earlier this week (Sunday) it was Esther Day and I hope you had a fabulous one and told lots of people that you love them. If you don't know what Esther Day is, just type it into Google and you're sure to find the information you seek. Personally, I told a whole bunch of people that I love them: my best friends, my family, cousins, the Mendelschtapps...and I got some varied responses. Naum didn't reply to me but he replied to my sister (not sure if he saw mine), Hora returned the love, one of my best friends led a war to try and prove she loves me more (and I'd like to say she lost), my other best friend returned the love, Malke returned the love, my family and cousins returned the love. All in all, lots of love returns. If no one told you they love you on Esther Day, I'm making up for it. I LOVE YOU.

Now onto the bulk of this weeks entry. The strange love. My seventh grade year I had a friend, a crazy friend, and he was in my Theatre class. Every morning we'd walk to Theatre together and he'd always say something along the lines of, "I LOVE YOU. Not in a weird way, but I love you." At the time, I had some problems with this and, frankly, I still do. I've talked to my sister about it many a time and every time we end up agreeing on one common question, "Why does love have to be weird?" In short, it doesn't. I feel like too many people think of love as one thing, one thing that isn't even true. The main point of Esther Day is that you're telling people that you love them, "non-weird love." I tell my friends (at least my good ones) that I love them all the time because I have a definition of love that gives me the power to do so. I wrote a letter to Naum while I was at camp and talked about this a little. I said that we needed a general definition of love and, because I didn't have a dictionary at the time, I made one up that benefited my uses.

My simple google search of "love" gave me this definition: an intense feeling of deep affection. So, question. How true is that? Technically, we feel a deep affection for our best of friends and, sometimes, all of our friends in general. If you have the right friends, they make you feel loved and safe. There's that word, love. I told Naum my definition, which went something along the lines of this: Love is when I care for someone. I want them to have a good day, I want to know about them because I want them to trust me, I trust them, they don't betray me. Love is when I see that person in pain and ache to fix it, ache to make it okay. That, to me, is love. You can disagree if you want but that's what I'm using on here from now on.

Esther Day is great, it's the wish of an amazing girl who only wanted everyone in the world to feel loved. It becomes less fabulous when you realize that a lot of people don't get told that someone loves them on a daily basis and, honestly, we don't know who does and doesn't get those words spoken to them. Humans require love, though. It's why we work the way we do. In communities and with deep affections for others. I know that the real reason is safety and numbers but, by now, that's changing. Having others around us is driven by an intense need to feel accepted and cared for. To be loved. So please, Nerdfighters, don't make love weird. It is what it is and everybody needs to know that they're loved. I'm begging you, always tell people you love them and don't make it weird. Don't let them make it weird. Because, truth be told, love never has to be. The strange love is not one that goes appreciated, not in the least. Make it real, love is not a game.

I'm so, lucky to have friends who are willing to support me, to tell me they love me. I hope you have people like that too because, in this life, you're going to need them. Oh, and one more thing, if you ever need someone to talk to, I've got your back. (And great video from Ethiopia by John, right? I saw something that said he's in the hospital so, send positive thoughts!). DFTBA and, Nerdfighters, I'll see you on Friday.