“Every story, new or ancient

Bagatelle or work of art

All are tales of human failing

All are tales of love at heart.”

– From the musical “Aida”

Working in the newspaper business, you grow accustomed to churning out tales on the daily.

After one story is completed and in print, you are on to the next job. In the business of deadlines and headlines, it is easy to miss patterns and ignore any common threads weaving each story together. But in this town there is a defining element in many of the stories that appear in our newspaper.

The commonality is love in all of its shades – from a mother’s love that endures even after the death of her children to the parents who submit bits and pieces of news about their children and continue to carefully cut those clips from papers to track the growth of their offspring.

Then there are the stories of islanders who donate their time in exotic places, like elephant sanctuaries in Asia to volunteers at the food bank who carefully strive to nourish those in need.

There is the love of nature found on almost every page, from the care and worry over our orca population to the anglers who proudly display their catches from a sport that makes their hearts soar.

Flipping through the pages of any newspaper you can find love on all levels through many different lenses.

This week in our paper, you can read about the healing power of love, local events celebrating the heart, businesses offering gifts and dining to pamper your special someone and the enduring legacy of sacrifice.