everyday delights

some things in life are so valuable. inexplicably so. like the joy of making kool aid for a 3 1/2 year old on a summer day.

i got to do that today, and it was so sweet to see her infinitely [yet momentarily] pleased by a small cup of sugar and dye. plus cats. she's got an adorable affinity for cats. utter delight, holding our drooling featherweight mental handicap of a 13 year old cat.

and then there's her mom. we've been friends for a decade now. [hrmm...how am i old enough to have had a mostly adult decade long friendship?] any friend who will tote a massively active 3 1/2 year old + accoutrement 1 hr. 20 minutes [round trip] at 6 months great with child just to visit - priceless.

everyday delights. what a generous God to give us all these moments of enjoyment.

oh, another delight of the day > a brother who rescued me from the clutches of an evil black widow in the garage. i walked out laboriously carrying a leaky jar of sun tea - right into a silky, sticky web of doom. she was just hanging there in the air. big brother came down and smashed that mutha ucka into goo. death escaped another day.

i leave you with words of wisdom from jermaine and bret: a kiss is not a contract, but it's very nice. very very nice.

dirt.

all flesh falls back to earth, to dirt.

here, at home, i'm struck with the physicality of the body.

[tan. white. bumpy. wrinkly. smooth. hairy. plump. thin. muscular. soft. hrmmm.]

struck with the physicality of aging. the concept of aging. here, in a house with my brother, my mother, and my grandmother. i'm struck with how the physical body changes over time.

my brother over twenty some years. my mother, through the eyes of my childhood, through the eyes of my semi-adulthood. my grandmother, still beautiful, but so different than her younger self.

what's more interesting to ponder, though, is the mental change that happens over time. the worldview, the self view. strange to think about.

plato dear?

so i've been thinking. [rare occasion, i know]

so i've been thinking about the importance of platonic love. 99.9% of the love in a person's life will be platonic in nature. why do we spend so much time trying to find the perfect romantic interest?

i have several very important Loves. though they are supportive, caring, compassionate males, i still try to throw sexuality into the mix. i despise that. but i'm so glad they continue to love me well in spite of it all.

since childhood, i've held this mystical belief in the all-importance of romantic love. for some reason, finding 'the one' has always been my ulterior [occasionally not so ulterior] motive. can it just be gone now? can i just change my focus? please?

what if marriage isn't the culmination of lessons learned and lessons to be learned in the arena of Love?

what if we spent more time fully engaging in life with the other 99.9% of our Loves?

what if i spent more time fully engaging in life with the other 99.9% of my Loves? hrmm.

ps - am now reading 'the shack' which is uber fascinating. oh yah. i just wrote uber.