This is the time of year when all kinds of ink are spilled on paper and cards about love.

It's a big economic stimulus package for the country albeit not quite equal to the 700 billion dollars that was pumped into the Wall Street banking system. Nonetheless, flower shops and card counters enjoy a nice boost, all in the name of love. But have you ever wondered what love is….exactly?

Every time I think about it I always recall the moment I had with my daughter when she was about three and a half years old. She had gone to bed and as was my habit to do, I went in to talk with her a few minutes and to tell her that I loved her. On this particular night, she looked at me with those savvy eyes of hers and asked, "What is love anyway?"

I thought about it for a moment then gave her this reply. "You know, Tracy, you have heard me say many times that my most cherished dream is to have a nice big farm over in Pocahontas or Greenbrier County, West Virginia, or maybe even down in Highland County, Virginia. I would like to have about five hundred acres with about one hundred head of black angus cows that I could sit on the porch and watch during summer evenings. I really wouldn't want to work the farm. I would hire people to do that. I would like to have a couple of nice Cadillacs out in the garage, one for me and one for your mother. I would want the house to have a big parlor so I could hire a good band about one Saturday night a month and invite all the neighbors in for a dance. To me, that would be heaven on earth.

"And you know, one day a very wealthy man came by my office and made me an offer. He said that he would buy me that farm exactly like I wanted. In addition, he said that he would deposit a million dollars in the bank for me to live on. And then he added that all he wanted in return was my beautiful little daughter. He said that he would take you to California and you would have a good life. But he also said there was one condition and that was that I must never ask to see you again..

"Well, Trace, I looked at the man and smiled. I told him that I would not trade my beautiful little daughter for all the farms on the planet or all of the gold in Mexico. And THAT is what love is."

She just gave me a half smile and turned over and went to sleep. I am not sure to this day if she really understood what I was trying to tell her. But when I got up and left her room I decided that maybe I had explained to myself what love is.

Then I thought about some of the girls I tried to woo in my youth. I would tell them that I loved them. But I would have traded any of them for a ten acre hillside farm in Clay County if I had gotten an offer. THAT is what love isn't.

Mack Samples is a regional writer who lives on 55 acres in Clay County. He is also a musician who tours with the Samples Brothers Band. Visit his website at www.macksamples.com.