like in the song

guta interrupted me mid sentence, "o, yes you are my family!  i love my family!  i love because that is the meaning of life.  that is why we are here, that is why we are alive, to love, to love!  you know this?  that is the reason we are alive, is to love.  'the greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love, & be loved in return' like in the song, you know? yes? yes!  love!"

i fell involuntarily to my knees as she told me this.  

i was so tangibly & completely physically affected by the intensity of her joyful conviction, & her need to share it with me first & foremost in our communication. 

 

guta is my grandfather's second cousin.  she is 80-something years old.  she goes to choir twice a week.  she lives alone in a 2 bedroom apartment in tel aviv.  she is a holocaust survivor. i have never spoken to her before.  until our phone conversation this morning, she did not know that i existed, but she loves me! 

i will be knocking on her front door in a few weeks...