Coastal voices: What is love? A child

I do not have a husband, nor do I have a sweetheart, or even a best pal. I have only me. I also have a huge heart that has been filled with so much love over the years. And on this special day I would like to share a story — a story about love.

It begins for most of us, I’m sure, way back — swapping and exchanging valentines in grade school. My story, however, begins much later in my life. It begins on July 17, 1997. On this day, I believe with my whole heart, God had just created the perfect love. Kind of like a love you only dream about or a love you only read about in books, or a love you are, at this very moment, still searching for.

My love came to me at exactly the right moment in life. It filled my heart until the love overflowed, absolute bliss, a feeling I truly thought didn’t exist. But it does and I believe we all should experience that emotion at least once. Imagine for a moment being a kindergartner and your favorite teacher just asked you, “What is love?”

“Love is my mom because she’s pretty and she makes me feel happy.”

Anyway, that was the answer my little kindergartner gave to “What is love?” And in my opinion this sweet little boy, God’s most gracious gift, had it all summed up in a simple and honest answer, which came from the bottom of his little heart.

But the most amazing thing about my story is that the day this perfect child came into my life, I knew right away the moment I looked into his beautiful brown eyes that in those eyes I could do no wrong, and for eight wonderful, unforgettable, blissful years, I was the luckiest mom in the whole world.

So thank you, God, for sending me a little part of you to share with me and to know “what is love.”

In memory of Kayden Alexander Rodger Riggs, July 17, 1997-Aug. 26, 2005.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Monika Riggs is a Crescent City resident.