truth of love

Last night I sat in a bookstore cafe reading a book called "crouching father, hidden daughter". As I drove home, I thought about my understanding of love. It keeps evolving. I wondered if there are really different types of love or if these are just different degrees of this one thing. I wondered about my love for my mother, my grandmother, my sisters, my wife, and now my daughter. Is it different for each? I don't think I've come to any conclusion yet, but I do think that my love for my wife has a unique place. My mother and grandmother have worked their magic since I was born, and my sisters and daughter have worked their magic since they were born. Those relationships CHOSE me, they were not chosen BY me. I have chosen to have a relationship with my wife. And I wonder if an emotional connection based on choice is different from those based on birth.... Anyways, I learned the truth of this: with any relationship involving love (any type and/or degree), there are two players involved, the lover and the beloved. And when a lover acts lovingly to the beloved, the beloved starts to love the lover in return. So, while there is nothing in this world like a feeling of love for a beloved, it is action that takes us to the ultimate station of existence. A Lover who is Loved in return.