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BEGIN LOG

If love is so fragile, then why continue to repair it after it cracks?

Once it has filled its surface with this many cracks, wouldn’t it be easier to leave it be and let it decay and shatter and fall apart over time?

Yes. It would be easier.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the correct thing to do.

Love is so fragile because it needs to be constantly repaired. It is an essential part of love, that need for constant repair, for maintenance, for reassurance of devotion.

Some may wonder why to keep that lamp on, to keep its ornate ceramic looking beautiful, despite the cracks.

“Look at your lamp,” They say, “It is cracked and flawed. Shouldn’t you discard it and put a new flawless copy in its place?”

And I say to them, “You know nothing of this. This lamp has seen much. Endured much. It’s stories are nestled in the cracks spreading across its ceramic. It’s journey is weaved into the stone it is made of as if a testament of all it has seen and heard. Is this not a sign of flawless and perfect existence? Perfection in imperfection?”

This lamp, this love..

It will dim. It will brighten. Sometimes the power will blink out, leaving us in the dark.

But the lights will come back on. And we will fight to love. We will choose to love, and to live, and we will nurture the cracks. Let them settle. And when someone asks about them, we will tell that story.

I will engrave bluebirds into our lamp. I will stamp ravens to the surface, let crows flutter onto the stone. I will put roses, and chrysanthemums, and moonflowers and sunflowers, and I will sprinkle it in color so that when it is finished, it will be colorful in ways you only could have dreamed of.

I have made mistakes. I have cracked our lamp. I will mend the crack. I will transform it into something beautiful. I will build on it, and build into a future with you. 

This is my vow to you.