I Love You - and Why Shouldn't I?

Of all the things

I can do

on this earth,

I just want to build

a bridge

from my heart to yours.

            -Alexandra Vasiliu

I just love that quote by Alexandra Vasiliu. If you aren't familiar, with her, you should be! Alexandra Vasiliu is an award-winning poet and a children's author. It's really easy for me to tell people I love them and I've been thinking about that a lot lately. People kind of look at you a little weird when you tell them you love them, but I promise you if people can chose to hate people they've never met, I can chose to love anyone I like. Of all the things being spread around right now, would it be so bad to spread around love?  

I recently posted the following on social media:

 I need you to be open to trying something new ... 

I am encouraging all of you to hug one another often and let each other know how you feel.

I guess I was blessed with my father being ill when I was growing up. He came from a family that didn’t say “I love you” regularly (some not at all) but his illness changed him. I grew up hearing “I love you” several times a day - it was said to me, I heard my parents say it to one another, and my parents told their siblings, nieces, nephews, etc... I’ve said it to my friends and sometimes they’ve felt uncomfortable hearing it - but it seems once they themselves have lost someone close to them, they too start saying “I love you” without hesitation or fear. 

 If I tell you I love you, I mean it. I refuse to wait until I’m standing in line at your funeral to finally admit that having you in my life made it better. I refuse to live with regret. This world is a better place because of you. I am a better person because of our friendship. 

YOU ARE LOVED! YOU ARE AMAZING! 

                                I Love YOU! 

                                                ~Crystal Otto

It was amazing to see the shares, the comments, and the responses to this very simple post. Some people hadn't heard those words in a long time. Others didn't feel worthy of being loved. For a few short moments that day, I like to think I helped make someone think a little harder about love and relationships and the importance of lifting others up. 

Some people don't say I love you but they show people their feelings with actions of love. I'd love to hear from you - leave a comment answering one of the following questions about love:

- If you say I love you to your friends, will you tell us why you think it's important?

- If you do not say I love you to your friends, will you commit to giving it a try? Why or why not?

- If you prefer to show people love through your actions, what are some of your favorite ways to love on your friends and family?

With the holidays right around the corner, it's a great time of year to spread love to everyone we encounter! Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you feel loved and appreciate today!

Hugs,

~Crystal

and now...a little more about me...

Shown from left to right:
Delphine riding Honey
Mr. Otto holding Eudora
Crystal riding Marv.
Thank you Forward Farm, LLC 

Crystal is the office manager, council secretary, financial secretary, and musician at her church, birth
mother, Auntie, babywearing mama, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their five youngest children, two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, horses Darlin' and  Miss Maggie May, a bunny named Penelope who is absolutely the most amazing companion, and over 250 Holsteins.

And now she runs a virtual classroom for her children who are distance learners! 

You can find Crystal milking cows, riding horses, and the occasional unicorn (not at the same time), taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her own blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade and she has never (not once) been accused of being normal!