Real Love

Ralph loves his monkey. Anytime he is even remotely happy or excited, Ralph grabs his monkey and swings it around with wild abandon. Whenever we travel Ralph has to have his monkey along for the ride. It comforts him. The monkey, though, has paid the price in this exchange: losing hair, being unstuffed, and stitched up countless times.

It makes me wonder how true this expression is: "You Always Hurt the One You Love." Or is it more like "The Velveteen Rabbit"-that this loving makes us real?

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand... once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
~ Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit


Mills Brothers singing "You Always Hurt the One You Love":
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cTxNlxPasw