Love soars. I forget that sometimes, take for granted how something so free and simple and universal can sweep you into its downy wings and lift you over the chasms in life, carry you to destinations you’d never reach alone. Love may not always stay, but it leaves you richer than it found you. However, you may not realize it at the time love departs. But that is life. It must be lived forward, but is only understood looking backward.

I’ve given much thought to love lately because I received a blogger accolade entitled the “Love Ya” award, passed along by my friend Delicate Flower. Delicate writes an anonymous blog titled Delicacies and, as most bloggers do, muses on events and situations in her life within the context of humanity and how we attempt to make sense of our lives and the intricate puzzles that, once solved for each individual, are life’s ultimate gifts.

As a 54-year-old female back on the dating scene, Delicate Flower pens raw and honest posts, the thoughts and desires of a real woman on her journey to find love and sex, but not necessarily in that order or even always together. Her site Delicacies, may not be for everyone, but I find it refreshing, and for the record, I believe American society is way too uptight about sex—or at least pretends to be—and way too tolerant of violence and even rudeness in general. Sex creates us. Violence will end us…if we aren’t vigilant.

"Love Ya" AwardI’m honored to receive this award after such a short time blogging, and am partial to the essence of the award’s idea, because I, like DF, have been amazed at the wide doors of friendships that blogging has opened. Like attracts like and to expand my personal universe by finding kindred souls has lifted me in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

Here’s how the award is passed and the text that accompanies it:

These blogs “are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must then choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award!”

But before I list my winners, this award nudged my thought process.

I like how the award grows exponentially, and that it doesn’t really cost anything to pass on other than time. I know most of us receive inspiring chain emails from friends, ones we are supposed to keep in action by forwarding, but the emails are one-size-fits-all, and not a true commentary on the thoughts we hold for specific people.

It would be great for anyone reading this post, if you like the idea, to pass along a “Thank You” award to anyone that has been a positive influence in your life. You can write something like, “Just a note/email to let you know I often think about the time you helped me ______. It has always meant a great deal to me and I don’t know if I’ve thanked you enough.”

You can fill in the blank, or create your own message. You may assume people know you appreciated the help they provided, but I guarantee many of you will receive responses such as, “I never realized it meant so much to you. Thanks for letting me know.”

So, this week, I will let three people know how much I appreciate their influence in my life. Heck, I may do way more than three.

I will also ask these special people to think of three others they want to thank and to please do so. The only rule is they can’t send a “Thank You” back to the person who sent it. Sometimes a “Thank You” needs to stand on its own, without the recipient feeling compelled to reflect something back in return. Let them spread their gratitude forward instead.

If any readers decide to follow through, I’d appreciate if you'd post a comment on this entry to let our growing Lessons community know you’ve made three people’s lives richer, at least for a short while.

Without further ado, I present my recipients of the “Love Ya” award. Some I've known for a while, but most of them I've recently met, having the pleasure of getting to know them on varying levels over the past months:

Dani at Positively Present - Dani and I have swapped movie recommendations over the last couple of months and we align fantastically in that area. Dani also just launched Hope Springs Internal, a website designed to promote positive female role models. These women make other women and girls feel good about themselves as they are, no matter what the grand marketing machine implies to the contrary.

Tracy at I Hate My Message Board - Tracy cracks me up with her irreverent blog entries interlaced with poignant posts. You never know what you might get when you log onto Tracy's site.

Dena at Why Aren’t I in Charge? - Dena, a great friend and another humor-charged writer/blogger, is working on a hilarious project that I predict will do exceptionally well.

Sara at On Simplicity - Great advice. I always search for ways to simplify because there aren’t enough hours in the day. There is an approaching wave here, people.

Laury at Soar-Dream-France - Laury was brave enough to chase her dream all the way to France. I admire people like her.

Andy at Thirty Seconds - Andy’s life changed when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. Raw, gritty and often tender, Andy writes from the heart and challenges us to live to the fullest.

Melody at melodywatson.com - Melody designed my website and gives her all to clients. She is a wonderful, positive presence.

Laine Cunningham at Not Bad for a Sheila - Publishing industry consultant and author extraordinaire, I will forever be indebted to Laine for the title of this blog. I had barely finished explaining the concept when the exact words rolled off her tongue. No way is that domain available, I thought. Little did I know…

Honorable Mentions

Emily at A Chick’s View - Yet another hilarious woman. I sense a trend here. She’s one to watch…and bookmark. A Chick’s View officially launches July 1, 2009, but you can get a sneak preview here.

Daily Planet Princess - Alas, this blog is no more because Daily Planet Princess has exciting opportunities ahead that she must focus upon. But Ms. Princess and I struck up a friendship in the blogosphere partially because my curiosity got the best of me. As a fan of all things Superman, I had to know the story behind the name. It’s a good one, in my book. Maybe if we get enough “pretty please” comments on my blog, she’ll relay her secret identity to everyone. But if she chooses not to, for the safety of mankind, at least know this: Ms. Princess has a huge heart and will be a tremendous success in her chosen field of helping others.

So please visit their blogs and tell them Christopher at Lessons from the Cockpit sent you. Within their pages you'll find warm hearts, good souls, and great dreamers, much like yourself.