A Winner for the "Words of Love Challenge!"

Hello everybody! I'm so excited about the response to this giveaway -- almost sixty of you wrote in with your favorite quotes about love. There was poetry, song and prose, and the entries were as diverse as they were moving. Though there's only one winner (chosen randomly) I hope you'll take some time and read these beautiful sentiments. And the winner is...Elizabeth! Here is the winning entry, which I find particularly wonderful, as it reminds me a lot of Max and me.

Elizabeth said...

This is kind of long. It's from St. Augustine, and I think it should be read by every couple who fancy themselves "in love."

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
-St. Augustine

So Elizabeth, a geography teacher from New England, will receive a signed copy of O, JULIET (my copies arrived just a few moments ago) and the beautiful blown glass heart necklace. Congratulations!

There's still another week left to enter your own love poetry to win a Renaissance style leather-bound journal.

And don't forget the "Love Makes You Crazy" Giveaway (that gorgeous solid silver heart necklace is the prize). There's still another week to go for that one as well. It seems a lot fewer folks are sharing their crazy-love experiences, but I've really enjoyed all the stories that have come in so far.

Lots of love,