"Love actually is all around"

This is a quote from my all-time favorite movie ever- Love Actually. The full quote is: "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinions starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around."

I love this. It makes me cry every time I read it, hear it, think about it. Except yesterday- when I dropped my parents off at the airport. I thought I wasn't going to cry because I get to see them in about 4 weeks, but I cried anyway. Just a little. Then a lot. I felt so sad to drive away from them. Just five days earlier I had driven this same drive with my parents in tow- excited chatter filling my car. And now I was alone and they were heading back to Virginia. Sad.

But then I thought about this quote. Because of the airport connection of course, but also for inspiration. I've been promising myself recently that I would work to stay positive during my blue moments. I have a habit of wallowing, so I tried to think about this quote for the rest of the afternoon to push myself. To push myself to cheer up. To push myself to not go home and cry into my pillow. To push myself to see the love all around me… even when I am blue.

And it worked! Instead of going home and moping (like I normally would have) I ran some errands, stopped by to see a friend (and her little dog: a major pick-me-up in fur) and went for a run. I started to cheer up as I kept busy and looked for love all around me... I didn't have to look hard.