One night I laid out on the front porch with my little sisters, our limbs all intertwined as we searched for stars through the city lights. They threw questions at me, one after another. Between the oldest of them and me there is a ten year difference, they think I know things. They trust my knowledge, the way children trust their older sisters.

They want to know where the sun goes as night, I tell them how the world is spinning so fast, our socks and shoes are simultaneously knocked off and put back on. They giggle with amazement and kick their feet, hoping to catch the world in the act of stealing their sneakers. They ask why the weather in different parts of the world is different and not just the world, but even in America there are places with different weather patterns. I stretch and tell them we can google it tomorrow. They don’t know what google is, or maybe they do and just want to hear how I explain it. I whisper dramatically into the air that Google is all knowing. They wonder aloud if google knows more than their Daddy.

They ask me what love is.

I tell them love is negative space.

Love is in the vast spaces between my fingers where their fingers fit perfectly, no matter how big their fingers get.It is the space where Mommy waits for them to come home and tell her about their days. It is in the doughy air bubbles of the whole-grain bread their grandmother bakes for the family each week. I remind them how their older brother’s right cheek dimples when he is smirking with mischief as he chases them around the apartment, pretending to be a giant, love is in the dent of his dimple. I tell them that love can be found in the space between when you are in midair and when gravity brings you back into your grandfather’s outstretched arms. I tell them how when they get older love will be in the gap between another person’s lips, where their lips will feel right at home. Love will be in the air humming with electricity between the physicality of their own bodies and the body of the person they love. I tell them to be wary of people who fill space swith gifts and flowers and “I love you’s”, because love is not bought or packed with words. I tell them love is found in the negative spaces we make or find, and not in the spaces that are forced. I tell them love is in the small of their backs and the crooks of their elbows. I tell them love is the spaces in Daddy’s arms that fill up with their books when he takes them to library every Friday and love is located in the silence of someone listening to their ideas and thoughts. I tell them love is in the tiny space in their best friend’s ear where their secrets are safe and in the spaces their little feet leave when they try on their uncle’s size fifteen shoes. I explain how love fills spaces and stretches it bigger, like how they can all fit into our parents’ bed and there is always enough room for all of them.

I tell them to always look for negative spaces and they will always find that they are loved.