What is Love? Love is a strong and powerful emotion. It can break a person down or lift them up. Remember to not confuse love with infatuation. Love can be used as a control and manipulation strategy. This is why many people like me, build a wall against love. Love is the emotion that I did not have. I believe God gave me my daughter, so that I could learn how to love. I was not taught love or even how to love growing up. Many of my relationships failed because I refused to love. I was constantly guarded and I did not believe it existed. Going through life without love held me back. But my guard came down when I gave birth to my daughter. The moment I heard my daughter cry for the first time after I gave birth, broke me down. I never felt an emotion so strong for another person. I knew then I would give up everything for her. I couldn’t even feel the birthing pain anymore. I was focused on if she was okay and breathing. Watching her grow and develop, brings me joy. I am extremely tired, but I wake up with joy and love. Her smile makes me smile. When she cries, I drop everything to tend to her. My life is not my own anymore. God gave me this precious little life to care for. My heart of stone started to beat again with her. I have to remember to eat sometimes, because I want to make sure all her needs are met first. The love for my daughter opened the door for love in other aspects in my life. I see now I have more compassion for people and patience. I don’t feel sad anymore. I believe love is a import component in raising a child.