Ode to Love
by Kiara Bennett
Ode to Love:
I love, love.
I love the idea of love.
It’s such an innately human trait to love.
We can feel pain and we can be happy, but to love is an experience unlike any other. The best thing about love is that it changes between each of us, but is so alike in countless ways. To me love is everything. It’s family, friends, food. It’s calling my sister for the slightest inconvenience and her (actually) picking up. It’s finding people who get you in the most random of places. It’s trying Korean corndogs for the first time on my first trip alone with my new roommate.
Love is family, friends, food.
It’s texting my dad at 4 am when he’s just getting up for work and, I’m just climbing into bed after a long night. It’s walking around Boston at midnight with people I met 2 days after I moved in and hoping I’d never forget these adventures. It’s the taste of the brown sugar milk tea as I walked along Comm ave. wondering what this first year of college held for me.
Love is family. It’s the reason my twin sister and I can’t go a day without communicating because even 3 states can’t keep us apart. It’s the reason why my older sister will always be my hero and I’ll always try to be one in my younger brother’s eyes. It’s the reason why I work so hard to make my parents proud.
Love is family, friends, food.
It’s the shock on my baby brother’s face when I surprise him with a weekend home and the subsequent pestering to play video games with him. It’s the joy I feel when reuniting with old friends and the sadness when we're all forced to go our separate ways. It’s the taste of my mom’s curry goat and my dad’s lasagna at thanksgiving dinner after missing it the previous year.
Love is friends. It’s my best friend in North Carolina who I see like 3 times a year but still manage to pack a year's worth of experiences. It’s the amazing friends I made during my first week of college and refuse to leave alone. It’s the friends who have come and gone, but still, remain in my heart no matter the time we’ve spent apart.
Love is family, friends, food.
It’s the anticipation I feel for my sister’s 21st birthday this summer. It’s the many plans my friends and I have made for my first summer in Boston. It’s the taste of my future successful (and maybe failed) cooking attempts.
Love is food. It’s the Jamaican dishes I beg my mom to cook every time I come home. It’s the innovative cuisines that I help my dad create. (I mean who would put jerk chicken in an empanada besides him). It’s the vast palette my friends are slowly teaching me to have and I’m so grateful for it
So am I a bit of a hopeless romantic? Yes!
But when there are so many things to love, why shouldn’t I be?
I love love and maybe you should too.