Love and Tradition

I'm spending three days in Mezőkövesd, a village (or town) in Hungary quite to the North-East, famous for the beautiful embroidery proper of the area. My substitute parents live here (they are my "substitute parents" because they are the folks of a dear friend of mine, and since we are like siblings, his folks decided to make me their substitute child ^_^), and so we decided to pay them a visit, and in this visit, I decided to stay. In this three days - now that I can do it, for once I've get a job I probably won't be able to come here and stay long enough - I've been indulging in good homemade cooking and sipping in tips for quick and easy recipes to do at home. After all, I've a home now to housekeep and someone has to be on top of things, and that someone is me. ^_^ 

As expected, there has been plenty of talking as well, where Mommy and I fixed the world and chatted out all the important matters. From recipes and wonderful cabbage soups to loseweight (Daddy has to lose weight, so he's on a cabbage soup diet), to what's going on in the family and in the country, politics and all. From these conversations several things stay with me once I go to bed. Mommy's and Daddy's frankness, their familiarity and how they make you feel part of the family and arriving home the moment you walk past the front gate. Also, their love and care.

It strikes me how they care so much for my boyfriend and I, how they insist to send us back to Budapest with so much food "for the road" that could feed an army for a week. They make sure we feel well, feel welcomed, feel cared for. Mommy and Daddy aren't our biological folks, and yet they care is if were were their children. So, how can it be that there are so many parents out there who can't give a dime for their own children? And in the face of this, how can it be people out there who nag the childless and call them abnormal and immature?

Sadly, I know many parents, and I know all of us do, who think their children are their personal servants, that their children owe them their lives and for that reason shall pay everyday for it. Parents that don't pay attention to them, who can't wait to get rid of them, hide them, assign them to the grandparents or anyone in order to keep living as if they were single and free of care. Parents who act like their kids are a badge they've earned, or see them as a source of income, either by making the other parent of the kid pay child support, or by either sending the children to work or selling them.

With Mommy and Daddy I've the chance to experience a kind of love that knows no limits and it's not tied by blood. Just as with the parents of Dragonfly, or Alix' parents, there's a limitless love that stretches even to those who have not been born from them. Like with my Mom and Dad, who love me and show it inconditionally, they also show inconditional love.

Love isn't something that comes with the blood shared, or because "you are meant to be together" and slip gold rings on each other's fingers. Love starts in you, grows in you and it grows harder, stronger, bigger if the one you love - or the one's you love -love you back and nurture the feeling. But love doesn't die if it's not corresponded. Love can live in if it's nurtured at least for one person. Yes, love can die, if you find out that a love has grown so that hurts you more than it makes you feel good. Then you yourself stop feeding it, and it slowly dies out. But love starts with you.

There's a tradition in this land, about beautiful embroidery, but there's also a tradition of warm hearts and sweet, endless love that's extended inconditionally to anyone willing to be part of the family.