Highway Unicorn

Highway Unicorn 

The process of love is, as someone has well said, a journey not a destination.

 It is, isn’t it? That puts it in such comforting terms. For me at least. Love is a journey.

 We rarely realize this. How many marriages turn sickly, die, because those in them think love is a destination? How many parents have lost their kids because of this? How many friends, how many lovers, how many siblings have been shut out, rejected, turned away because we thought love is some kind of destination? An end? A final piece of work that was completed. In a ceremony. In a promise. In a hope.

 I think of Lady Gaga’s “Highway Unicorn: Road to Love.” It’s a wild song. It gives love expanse, room, a freeway. Love is a freewheeling emotion. A power deep in the soul. It burns. It weeps. It sings and laughs. It waits. It longs. It goes all the way.

 As Gaga sings it, 

“We can be strong, we can be strong

Out on this lonely run, on the road to love”

 Don’t we all want to be there? Because in these chaotic times we need love. We need it badly. I do. I know I do. I’m on the road to love.

 In terms of romantic relationships, on this road, you realize sex is not simply a passionate force, a pleasure of momentary ecstasy. Instead, it is an affirming embrace, an emotional connection, a patient experience of physical and intimate delight. It is mystery and wonder. It is closeness and joining. It is kisses and holding. It is bonding and communication. And when years go on and aging changes our direction, the fire may burn slow, but the warmth is not gone. It carries the presence of companionship, of sustained friendship, of a long knowing of one another. Not the grievances or the irritations. But the deep appreciation that love has nourished.

 In terms of parents and children, of siblings and friends, it is a road of acceptance, forgiveness. It is putting aside the hurt feelings, the wounded ego. The over protection. The incessant scolding. The going-nowhere arguments. The jealousies. The dysfunctions. It’s not ignoring them. Not forgetting them. But learning from them. Observing them. Looking at them but not obsessing over them. Getting the lessons they have to offer. And moving on. It is also remembering the childhood joys. The meaningful celebrations. The shared tears and the It’s okay, let’s still be friends. Because those feelings are on the road, too.

 The Highway Unicorn is not an imaginary road. Not a fairy tale told to toddlers. Not a make-believe story. But rather a journey of creativity. Of whimsy and fun. Of looking for the shimmering love along the way. And giving love along the way, too. It is realizing the brevity of the ride. The no time to waste.

 This road has us asking all along the way, how can I become a more loving human being? It is both a pathway to and a revelation of what is actually real, truly valuable, and who means the most to us in life.

 And finally, we learn this Highway Unicorn, this Road to Love, doesn’t end until we do.

 © 2022 Timothy Moody