Love, Actually, Is All Around

​Last minute yesterday, I decided to go to the local movie theater and watch Love Actually. I saw this movie for the first time on television last year. It moved me, frankly, so I thought, why not catch it on the big screen.

The movie opens with a narrator proclaiming, "if you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love, actually, is all around."

As his words spilled out, I looked around the theater. I was the only person in there. I was, actually, all alone.

I told a friend afterward, I'm not sure it's a good idea to go see a movie about love being everywhere in a theater by yourself leading up to a Christmas you'll spend by yourself (well, except for a dog and two cats and the beach 😊🤷‍♂️).

But watching that movie, uplifted by MMs with peanuts and popcorn (talk about love, actually), I was reminded that even on a screen, love is always reminding us of love, or preparing us for love, or inviting us into love.

Inviting us into it and inviting us to see it.

Because sometimes the lack of love is not the lack of love, it's just simply overlooking it. The more we fail to see love where it actually exists, the less we begin to believe love actually exists at all.

After the movie, because MMs and popcorn just don't constitute dinner, I dropped into a little family owned pizza joint next to the theater. Like the theater, the place was empty.

A man and a woman were working together behind the counter. I asked if they were still open. They both smiled and said yes. I told the woman what I wanted. She told the man. They smiled at each other as he put my slices in the oven.

I don't know if they were married. Or friends. Or co-workers. But to me, they looked like love.

The woman handed me my slices and out the door I went. But I couldn't help but hear that movie narration:

"If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love, actually, is all around."

This holiday season, and beyond, take time to notice it.

Love, actually....