What kind of a name is “Luff”?

It’s like love, but… fluffier. Fuzzier. Warmer. I originally wanted to call this school “Love Learning,” but that name got taken by some other business and I wasn’t willing to go with some weak-sauce spelling of the word like “Luv” Learning, because barf. Luff is objectively better, because it makes me think of cats and clouds. Okay, so that makes it subjectively better. Close enough.

But “Luff” has another meaning to me – one more special than being close to Love but better than Luv. You see, I had a friend in my young adulthood named Brittnay (not a typo; her name had a unique spelling). And, as you can tell by my use of the word “had” here, Brittnay passed away, many years ago, before she even got the chance to go to college. She worked with me and she was one of my best friends. She had a quirky sideways smile, a quirky sideways personality, and she would spread love and light everywhere she went. She carpooled to and from work with me, and one night on the way home, I fell asleep at the wheel. I crashed, but she was the one who died.

Many years and many, many hours of therapy later, I am still thinking of her; and with the name “Luff Learning,” I want to honor her. Brittnay had a silly little habit. She used to walk up to people at random – good friends, acquaintances, and even strangers – and look them directly in the eyes and say those three little words: “I luff you.” Ha, she would do it so often that sometimes I would even roll my eyes at her for it. But looking back, I appreciate those three words more and more all the time. I luff you. Sometimes she would say it while we were sitting on the couch watching “Glee” together (ah, those weird teenage obsessions), sometimes she would say it when I was in distress and complaining about my latest stress du jour as a way of lightening the mood and making me feel better. I luff you. 

And… y’know…. I just feel like the world could use a whole lot more Luff.