16/09/2026
Every year on the 16th of September I post this as a reminder to myself but also for those that might need to hear or read this.
It’s a bit long, but there is so much truth in it.
Use it — Don’t use it.
Marlene Hurter, I want to tell you that I love you more and more every day. Thank you for who and what you are, and for everything you do for me and mean to me. I love you right down to my last piece of being.
We all strive for the fairytale, the “until-death-do-us-part,” the Hollywood ending, with two people kissing in front of a sunset while the credits begin to roll.
Unfortunately, that is seldom, if ever, the reality. You fall in love, and then comes passionate love. Eventually, we become accustomed to each other, and those feelings can get lost along the way. Some people do get the kiss, but the credits don’t start rolling immediately — life does.
Illness, financial problems, work, children, family problems, relationships and, sometimes, death are all factors we never include in the script of our love story and our romantic dream. There are so many things — far too many to mention — that can affect every “moonlight-and-roses” fairytale.
What I suddenly realised with a shock last night is that none of these factors or “problems” really matter when you truly love someone. As long as you love the other person in your life with everything you are, you can overcome anything, because together you are a team. We joke so much about Team G&M…
I could never understand how people whose partners treat them badly — whether physically, emotionally or verbally — could still forgive, forget and love that person.
Last night, while I was sitting staring into the fire, deep in Botswana, everything suddenly just “clicked.”
If you love someone above everything and everyone, you CAN forgive. You CAN forget.
I’m not saying you will always be happy. Quite the opposite. This kind of deep and immense love makes you vulnerable and can leave you open to being hurt.
The irony is that when you feel this way, most of the time you don’t even realise it. You don’t realise how incredibly fortunate you are to have the ability to love someone selflessly. To have someone so special in your life — someone who has lit that fire and keeps it burning.
I am incredibly lucky and blessed to have Malinki, aka Marlene Hurter, in my life — someone who effortlessly keeps that fire burning brightly and keeps it alive.
The person receiving this kind of love is usually blissfully unaware of the incredible blessing they have in their life. It is often simply taken for granted as normal.
If you love someone like this, appreciate it, cherish it, and keep the fire burning.
I believe it is like any great natural force — perhaps even greater and stronger. An earthquake, a tornado, a flood or a wildfire. It is something that happens naturally, inevitably and, most of the time, uncontrollably.
Love can be the same — sometimes unstoppable and inevitable.
Once any of these forces of nature have run their course, there is nothing you can do to make them start again. Love can be the same.
When such a great fire of love burns out, it is usually permanent — and it only happens if you allow it to happen. The person who has been giving that love is eventually exhausted and no longer able to reignite the fire.
You, as the keeper of that fire, have a responsibility to keep it burning and to constantly throw “new wood” onto the fire.
You, as the recipient, need to enjoy and APPRECIATE every moment. Cherish your source of love.
It is a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance to be the recipient of this kind of love.
I will probably never again, even in ten lifetimes, find a love like Marlene’s — and that makes me cherish every single moment of it.
My point is that one of the greatest joys on Earth is to love someone completely, with your entire being and everything that makes you human, and to be loved back in the same way.
Everyone strives for a relationship where someone loves YOU infinitely.
That will leave you semi-fulfilled.
True peace and joy come when you are able to love — completely love — without ifs, whys or buts.
Without conditions.
Love.
Fearless. Unstoppable. Uncontrolled. Unquenchable.
With everything you have and everything you are.
Thank you so much for allowing me to share this once-in-ten-lifetimes kind of love with you, Baby Jane.
And just know that you are in my heart and in my thoughts every moment of every day.
For you, I love with everything I have and everything I am.
Thank you for still loving me so much too, even though sometimes you don’t really like me all that much… 😂😂😂😂
