Yes - it's another hallmark holiday. A one that is marked by consumerism and chocolate and the reddest of red roses. A celebration of romance...of magical wishes..of dreams...and always - of love.

After the noise..after the ornamentation..after all else - I find myself wondering - what is it really about? What is this thing called 'love'?

I watched as this elegant and graceful pair wove themselves in and out and around one another. If they could talk..if I could hear - I'm certain that one completed the sentences that the other had started. Such perfect synchronicity. They mirrored one another's every thought and action. Does it get any more beautiful - I wondered - than this?

What was most remarkable - or so I thought - was how they appeared to hold space for one another. How - they waited. How - they listened. How - without a single word spoken - they appeared to understand.

And - it was right there in that space..in that quiet..in the stillness of the moment - I was sure that I saw them look one another directly in the eye. A glimpse. A knowing. An understanding. That - this is exactly what it is.

For better or worse. For seasons of prosperity and those of famine. For the days and weeks and months they spend feathering and warming the nest...hatching their babies..protecting them..teaching them..and then - together - watching them grow and go.

Yes - it's Valentine's Day..and just another of many hallmark holidays. But - my watching these pure white birds do what they do naturally - I couldn't help but believe. Yes - love can endure. And perhaps - just maybe...if nothing else - it merits honoring and celebrating as just that. Plain and simple and pure.