(Originally published October 5, 2013)

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There’s only one thing I’ve had on my mind all day: my propensity to fall in love.

Perhaps it’s simply that my definition of falling in love is looser than most people’s. For me falling in love has nothing to do with romance and sex and everything to do with basking in the amazing energy of something or someone. Right now I have a cat lying on my chest. I tell him every day how in love with him I am. I tell him that if he’d be willing to devolve into a human, I’d marry him immediately. He’s my soul mate…hopefully one of many…and he just happens to be feline. And then there’s my dog Radha: I’ve been in love with her from the moment someone put her on my lap when she was 10 weeks old. I’ve been in love with Sofie since the moment I picked her up and held her to my heart, rescuing her from a pack of foxes. And Princess I’ve been in love with since I brought her home 13 years ago, petrified that I wouldn’t have the capacity to care for another living being. She’s taught me well and loved me through thick and thin.

And then there are friends—too many to list individually so I’ll just mention a sampling from tonight. Nancy Wadsworth is one of the most joyful women I’ve ever known. Who could NOT fall in love with her? And the same for Sarah Brown, whose natural beauty and effortless sensuality stun me.

When I walk in the park I fall in love with the geese and the pelicans (oh how I love those pelicans!) and the crows and the squirrels. I laugh at my silly dogs and am filled with joy to see their joy.

My last girlfriend never said she was in love with me. She put such significance and meaning on the phrase that she totally squashed the magic out of it. She turned it into an object of control and dangled it before me. That’s a fun game and all (not), but why would we limit who we fall in love with to just a romantic partner when we live in such a magical and beautiful world full of millions of moments worth falling in love with?

I’ve always made myself wrong for falling in love so quickly—and now I’m beginning to realize that it might just be one of my strongest assets.