Thinking on these things . . .

Everything has lead up to this point and now it is time. The leading character utters those words we've waited all season to hear.... "I love you" they say. The object of affection turns and hesitates (cue dramatic music). The milliseconds seem like minutes until finally it is uttered, "I love you too." (music swells, lovers kiss, exit to credits) Ah, that romantic tension, all the waiting and wondering and worrying if this person really loves them or are they just stringing them along, because of course as we all know, if they are in love than all of their lives together will be happily ever after...but that's an entirely different subject. What if the person had never said "I love you" would the other one had offered an "I love you" first? Does the responder love less than the initiator because they love them "too" and not just simply "I love you"? Does an "I love you too" mean that my love is based on the

It's allergy season. This means that every room of the house has a half empty box of kleenex in it and some rooms even have two! I'm up right now at an hour unrecognizable to me because I can't breathe. Inadvertently I'd bought a box of Puffs Plus, tissues with lotion, and I discovered that they are wonderfully soft. The next time I went to replenish the kleenex supply I intentionally sought out more of this brand. I found them and they were expensive so I stood in the aisle seeing if I could justify to myself spending practically twice what the other tissues were to get this kind that I'd liked. I was buying several boxes so it took me a while to rationalize it all out and put the softer tissues in my cart. Those tissues sit beside me now as I write and every time I've grabbed one, I've been grateful that I made the right decision. After weeks of the joys of pollen, my nose is still not raw, and though they were close to three dollars a box, a still intact

Being near a lake draws my attention to things I typically don’t see a t home in the city. Things like circling seagulls and the rhythm of waves rolling to shore, the color of a sunset reflected on the water, and buoys. Buoys are everywhere around the lake, marking where boats can go, and how far out swimmers are safe. Typically in this area they are white with an orange-red stripe, and they bob in the water, all day, every day, and through the night and then the next day and the next night and the...well, you get the picture. It doesn’t seem to matter if the lake is calm or choppy or filled with racing white-capped waves, the buoys still stay in the same place, bobbing up and down, sometimes more agitatedly than at other times, but still there. I’ve learned that they are anchored to the bottom of the lake by a long chain that holds securely to the solid foundation of a large weight. When the waves crash over them, they are overwhelmed but not submerged. During a storm they are pounded