A vanishingly small fractional percentage of all humans are people to whom you will be directly and reciprocally introduced. Among the designators of proximal relationships between humans, stranger will be the most apt for most of even these. Over time, fewer still will be people who recall you by name and whom you recall by name, even fewer by first and last name. Within and among these people (name remembered or not) will be those known as friends, lovers, acquaintances, and family.

Perhaps one or two dozen of these people may bring you to the point of love (due to no action of their own), and/or we inspire in them deep, intense love. Very rarely, is such love mutual, reciprocal, and cooperatively acted upon, whatever expression that cooperation may take: a trip to the mountains, a shared meal or holiday, a phone call, a hug or a kiss, a leave-taking.

Some relevant nouns: my mother and my brother. Jimmy Koo. My father. My uncle, aunt, and cousins, Hyon Ju, Rachel, and Gina. My maternal uncles. My Hawaiian aunt. Tom, Sarah, Mandy, Jason, George, and always, always, always, my beloved Sarakittie. Both for your love and for my love for you, I am unspeakably thankful.

When I try to answer the questions and calls of love, I am always humbled, always surprised, caught always off guard by the distance that yawns between my heart and my hands.