Defining Intimacy: Loving Someone Else as Much as You Love Yourself

Some are there only for a moment, just to fulfill a role or a function, and then they're gone.

Some are there for many moments and patches of time in such a way that you form bonds with them.

You allow them keys into parts of your life and your heart.

They go in and out freely, enjoying the fragrance of your soul.

They are close enough to be arrogantly blind to the fact that there are other parts of you that bear the Restricted Access sign.

Still there are others in your life that are not just there through mere moments and patches.

These are the ones who you've given complete access to life and heart.

They can walk into your soul and enjoy the essence of everything about you.

There is no Restricted Access signs posted for them.

You couldn't keep them out if you tried.

They couldn't stay out if they wanted to.

These are the ones you share your midnight hours with as much as your midday.

They are the ones you lay your guard down for, because your vulnerability is safe with them.

These are the ones who love you throughout time and loss and failure and grief and fault, as well as gain and success and prosperity.

One man loved another as his own soul.

One man loved a woman so much that he worked 14 years for her, and it felt like one day.

Intimacy, when nurtured, grows and expands and flourishes.

It is discovery and rediscovery, and there is nothing boring about it.

Intimacy, when neglected, shrinks and wanes and becomes a past event -

like a lovely flower garden grown over with weeds.