What’s on my mind? The mystery of love.
This week, in a prominent location not far from the Departure Bay ferry terminal, I saw a large, white sign hand-painted in black capital letters. This is what it said: “I love you. Always have. Always will.”
Nothing more. Author, recipient and specifics, unknown. No clue if the beloved didn’t know, didn’t understand, didn’t care, had rebuffed the other’s advances, had married another, had bolted, had sickened or had died.
No clue if the author was male or female. No clue if the love was illicit, unrequited, unsuspected or if the sender lacked the courage to speak the words.
The message was clear, but vague — expressing nostalgia, sadness, longing, loss and heartbreak; yet hope, courage, passion, fortitude and fixed resolve.
Was the recipient even aware that s/he was the object of the anonymous message? If not, how would s/he ever know?
Thousands of drivers and passengers who disembark at Departure Bay see this message every week. I’ve seen it for at least a month, but have never before considered it. How long it’s been there, I don’t know. I really do want to know that as well as many other things:
Is the couple rich or poor, young or old, separated or divorced, married to one another or married to others? Why make a private emotion so public? Who wrote this? And why?
Love is a mystery — all the more so when it’s hand-painted in black capital letters on a large, white sign.
Nicole PartonQualicum Beach
