Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly, and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love. - Leo Buscaglia

I read this quote in a list of quotes on someone's blog this morning. Upon reading it I became awash in nostalgia. Remembering my childhood is a bittersweet endeavor, I'm sure I am not the only one to feel this way. Love was easy for me as a child, and as a young adult. I didn't understand it as much, but I had less expectations then. I loved to love most of the time, not awaiting return, in fact I think most of the time I didn't expect to be loved or cared for. Don't get me wrong, I felt loved often. Feeling loved is different than feeling cared for although they can work together. Feeling loved for me occurs when I am not deserving of affections or actions because I do not believed I earned what I recieved. It's easy to feel love for someone who is helping you out. But to care and work for someone with no return...well you get it.

Love now is more complicated now because I am more complicated. I struggle with the meaning of love now as do many people. But I remember my beliefs of love from my past, and although I made mistakes and was quite naive then, I miss that aspect of myself.