The Sound of Love

The words were startling to hear - "you don't sound like you love me - I mean I know you love me, but you don't sound like it". Those were the words that came out of Emme - so emphatically that I was sure that they had shattered part of my heart or at least made my soul cry a bit. I had simply asked her to go to her room and change her outfit. But, I was tired and I was wanting some peace - just five minutes to myself as I unloaded the dishwasher. So maybe it did sound different than I intended. And of course, as she usually does, Emme got me thinking. What is the "sound of love" - how do we know it exists when love on its own is such a hard concept to define? And how at such a young age could someone like Emme discern the sound of love and yet know that despite what she heard, the love still existed?

When I was about Emme's age, I think I knew the sound of love. It stayed with me through my high school years. It was my parents' footsteps down our hallway. When we were little, I could hear my Mom coming down the hall for one last check on her girls before she herself went to bed. And without hesitation, on her way back to her bedroom, she would stop and click on the light in the hall closet so that we wouldn't get scared. I remember my father and his footsteps coming down the same hallway - the ritual was the same - except Dad always lingered a bit longer in the doorway as if he needed a moment to take in the peace. Like my Mom he, too, would turn on the hall closet light for his girls. I didn't recognize it at the time - but, in thinking about it now, I'm fairly certain that is the sound of love. Something unspoken, words not shared - but the feeling the would warm me as I turned in my bed - safe for the night.

So tonight, maybe it wasn't so much what I said or even the way I said it, but the feeling Emme knew existed in my own soul. A feeling of being tired, of being scared, of needing peace - and for a moment she knew that the sound of love was deafened by all these other emotions. And yet, some how as it always does the sound of love prevails - because she never doubted that I loved her. I realize now that sometimes the sound of love has more to do with a hug, or a look, or the soft touch of your hands - than it has to do with saying those three little words. The sound of love is about what you do for those that you love. The sound of love is orchestrated by your own soul and those who hear it are those who truly love you unconditionally.