"Hey, I'm Jamie. Hehehe. How's it going?"

 

With a big lollipop, which is not commonly seen in Japan, he appeared with a smile.

He was slender, with pale skin, brown hair, and long hair,

and was shorter than the average European or American man.

 

His voice was very calm, but there was something innocent about him,

and everyone he met treated him like an old friend. He was a kind person.

I would be staying at his place for the next few days.

 

We met through a service called Couchsurfing, where travelers can stay in local homes for free.

I often used this service during my travels.

 

He was an enthusiastic Christian, but also loved spiritual thinking.

He told me he had welcomed me because he had received a revelation that something good would happen.

I also liked that kind of thinking.

Especially when traveling, I had started to sense that before something happened, there were often signs.

And I had a feeling that I would learn something important at this place.

The place was Kingston, which used to be the capital of Canada.

Due to its military location near the US border, the capital was moved to Ottawa, another city.

As a remnant of this history,

the old fortresses and cannons from that time have become tourist attractions,

and many tourists visit them.

But after a long journey, I had no energy left to visit tourist spots.

I was completely exhausted. All I wanted was to just zone out.

 

When you travel for a long time,

the extraordinary journey itself starts to feel like everyday life.

Even when visiting a new place for the first time,

there is a sense of freshness that fades away.

 

When I told Jamie about this,

he said, "Yeah, travel is tiring. You don't have to force yourself to go out. Ah, why not go somewhere in nature? In the end, it's all about nature,"

and he gave me directions to a forest spot where even locals don't usually go.

 

In the afternoon, I walked alone through that forest.

Maybe it's more accurate to say I wandered.

 

There was no one around.

It was just nature and me.

 

I could really feel how much that healed my heart.

Since there was truly no one else,

it felt like I was the only human in the world.

In the evening, when I returned safely to his house,

he invited me to go with him to visit a friend, saying, "I'm heading there now, want to come along?"

When we arrived,

there were about five young men in their 20s gathered.

 

They all seemed to be immigrants,

and their English was not perfect.

Even though I was in Canada, an English-speaking country,

the space was filled with languages other than English,

and surrounded by people I was meeting for the first time,

I found myself unsure of where I was.

 

I even started to question what I truly was.

Experiencing this kind of sensation was something

I had gone through many times during my long journey.

One time, one of them was talking about not getting along with their partner.

At that moment, Jamie straightened his back

and looked his companion straight in the eyes, speaking words that

I still sometimes recall even years later.

 

"People often misunderstand, but love,"

 

"Love isn't just a stronger form of liking."

 

"Love is... love."

 

"LOVE is love! You know, it’s like... hmm,"

 

With an expression that seemed to say it was hard to explain in words,

he continued, creating an atmosphere and saying,

 

"It's vast, cosmic, inclusive..."

As he stretched his arms out widely to the sides,

he suddenly made a gesture as if to pause,

and silently thought for a moment.

 

It was a philosophical and difficult topic,

and I think he was choosing his words carefully

since none of us, except Jamie, were native English speakers.

 

After thinking for a bit, he took a deep breath,

and with his arms spread wide from the inside out, as if holding a huge balloon,

he boldly said with all his strength,

 

"Love is, love."

It was the same thing he said earlier,

but he repeated it with big gestures and movements.

 

"Love is love!"

 

"Love is love."

"Love is... love."

 

"love is love"

 

"Love is... love."

 

The words were repeated passionately again and again,

with gestures, a serious expression,

and a direct gaze,

 

"Love is love."

 

Though he was just repeating the same words,

I strangely felt that I truly understood the meaning of "love" for the first time and was moved.

It was indeed not just the stronger form of liking,

love is love, as I felt it deep in my heart.

 

A warm, soft light in warm tones

began to overflow from deep within me.

It was the same feeling of gentle comfort

that I felt when someone was kind to me, or when I was kind to someone.

 

That feeling, which I had experienced many times in my life,

was love, and for the first time, I became aware of it.

I am not the only human in this world.

Right now, I am here.

I am myself.

Love is love.