How do you measure love? Is it by the way he laughs with you? The way he makes you laugh with him? The way he handles all those little things in life that you don't want to be bothered with? Or could it be measured by the sacrifice one is willing to make to be with the one that they love? I like that last one, myself. This is the question posed in Rosemary Kaenel's short It’s Called Love.
 
Pamela Moore is plagued with her daughter's complaints about the inconveniences Pamela endures living on a farm with her second husband, Edward. Shelley just can't understand what could possibly keep her mother in a place with no modern conveniences, not even indoor plumbing. Pamela suffers a fall that renders her helpless when her back is injured. Now Shelley feels justified in asking her mother to move to town. Although Pamela doesn't want to be a burden to Edward, she's not ready to leave the man she loves, even though he has begun to spend more and more time out in the barn, instead of inside with her. Doubts plague Pamela until…

I will suffice it to say, Pamela teaches her daughter a lesson in loyalty and dedication in It's Called Love that all of us could take to heart. Well, it's a short story and I wouldn't want to ruin it for the readers. I would have liked to see more "show" and less "tell" in the way the story is written. It is a heart-warming story that is well worth the read.

Reviewed By MargeAnna Conrad
© March 2008