MIA: Love

Where does all that love go?

That passion that had brought the two of you together? It isn't randomly floating around in our universe, for certain.  At least not in that combined, intense state.  There definitely were bits of it being circulated about, perhaps even covering a wide geographic range, but it was falling more like a light rain instead of being huddled together as a cloud full of moisture.  I think a tremendous amount of the love must go into the children - and they are excellent love investments.

As an exchange, there are many worse deals a person could make than this tangible evidence that a great love had created a lasting entity of beauty, or three.  

One day, though, you wake up and your partner has become another child.  The child who is seemingly regressing while the children you've loved since they existed only in your imagination, are becoming more independent. And you have to decide what to do.  Is it enough to remain in a relationship waiting for the next transition and hoping against hope that there will be steps forward?  Do you continue to augment your partnership by developing other interests - interests which may ultimately lead your further away instead of closer together?  Or - do you recognize that there essentially isn't enough to keep you tethered and begin looking ahead to a future which will be unlike the one you always expected?  And, during this realization, do you recognize how long it is has been since your imagination about the future has been activated?  The sigh that you expel at that moment in time - is it relief?  Sorrow?  Or simply the exhale of a breath that you didn't even realize you had been holding inside? 

And, with its release, how long does it take for you to realize both how empty you've been inside, and how much room there is for something else?