Love, it's an emotion. It's hypnotic and blinding. It can make us do remarkable things both great and dumb. But how do you know when you truly love someone? We love our family automatically, they're our blood and blood is thicker than water. What about those that become our family? Friends, partners, or step-relatives, they're not blood but at some point, we can treat them like our blood. When we enter into that zone of compassion for a person, it's love. How do you know though?

My step-dad has been going through a lot of back pain as of recently and the chiropractor doesn't seem to be helping. On another side, I have recently started to come aware of my love for my step-dad. These two events combined have introduced me to the article for today.

I went home this past week for Thanksgiving Break and saw my step-dad, laying flat on the floor because the pain is too much to sit properly on a couch or even sleep in a bed. I didn't think much of it because it's just back pain and he's getting help. So what?

Then, as I saw him move around the house, I noticed he twitches from the pain and each time my heart ached. At some point, he fell and I had to help him back up, my heart shattered a little bit for him. I could never imagine seeing someone I care about in so much pain. I saw my grandma suffer from cancer but she hid her pain. My step-dad is a whole other ball game because I can see it.

I took him to the chiropractor once and I never want to do it again. The doctor was nice of course, but to watch my step-dad agonizingly climb onto that chair. His body shook the whole time, his face in utter agony, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. The doctor would move him and he would twitch. I hated it.

That's how I know I have truly let this person into my life. Love. That's what that emotion is. It has many forms, but in this case, it's a discovery of love that can only be helped with someone else's pain. It's a cruel form and I don't want to witness it again, because it breaks my heart each and every time. At least I know the emotion exists.