TEN BIG ONES

Love. It's an awfully big word. It's always seemed to me like it should have more letters. I started keeping a book of my favorite quotes in high school. It was a fabulous idea, except that now when I think of one I can't find it. My quote book has expanded into two notebooks. I can flip for a long time and still not find the quote I am trying to track down. Thank goodness for the internet. Now if I can remember significant portions of the quote, I can probably google it.

"The Eskimo has fifty-names for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love."
— Margaret Atwood

See how fast that was? No, you can't see how fast it was because you aren't here. You have to trust me. It was fast. I popped it into google and it spat it right out. It's in my quote book because when I read that quote eons of years ago, I loved it. I loved it so much that I typed it up and added it to my quote book. Now, I can't find it in my quote book. Yikes.


Why are we talking about love today? Because I got this I Love Your Blog Award from Java at Never Growing Old and Purple Cow at Australian in Athens. The first rule of this award is to thank the person or people who gave it to you. I could just say thanks and leave it there. That isn't my way. Let's start with Java. What first attracted me to her blog was simply how she identified the people in her family, who are also the fodder for most of her material. Everyone is coffee related. Java, Joe, Venti, Grande, Tall, Short, Mocha... you get the idea. It's about family, work, and just being your best you. I can get down with that. Purple Cow is a philosopher at heart. She is also political. She is also a mother, daughter, wife, and a woman in the workplace. She asks a lot of really tough questions. Two very different blogs and both are well worth reading, so I hope you check them out!

The second part of this award is to write ten things that you love. Now, that sounds easy, but really not so much. It didn't say like. Love. Oh boy.

1. My family. I have learned to appreciate family more as my friends have disappointed me in my adult years. When I was a younger person, I thought that I had some friends who would never bail no matter what. The truth is that when it comes down to a friend or their family, your friend will choose family. Every time. I wish I had appreciated my family sooner. It's like that Alabama song says, "When you fall on hard times you can fall back home." When you fall on hard times with your friends, most of them cut and run. Sad to say it, but it's true.

2. My pets. Every one I've ever had. The ones I have now and the ones who have passed. They are like family. Very loyal.

3. Any story that touches me enough to make me cry. It can be a book, movie, TV show, or just two people talking telling a real-life experience. It doesn't have to be "real" to hit me in the heart. It just has to be good.

4. Doing live theatre. I had forgotten how much I loved it until I did a show a few years ago. Make that several shows. Right now, I am not healthy enough, but one day I will be again. When that day comes... well, I will post pictures.

5. I would say writing. But it's like someone else said before me and I can't remember who... it's having written. I hate writing. I love having written. And not just writing, but writing something and feeling like it was actually good. Maybe it was the story or the way the words fit together.

6. Music. Once upon a time I had aspirations of being a famous singer. I laugh at that now. Famous singer indeed. However, I love to sing karaoke. I haven't done that in forever. And I would be okay with never doing it again. But to never hear music again would be crushing. There is a lyric from an old Alison Krauss song called I DON'T KNOW WHY that says "if there were no music I could not get through, I don't know why I know this I just do."

7. Water. I know that I don't drink enough, but there is nothing better when you are so thirsty that you can't stand yourself. Have you ever been so thirsty that you felt like you were chewing cotton? I particularly love spring water. Cold water. I am big on ice. The hardest thing about my European vacation was the lack of ice. Bring on the ice.

8. I would say sleeping, but since I am asleep it is actually hard to appreciate that. What I really love is that feeling right before you fall asleep. It lasts only a second. It almost feels like falling. Love that. I guess since I am an insomniac it makes sense that makes my list.

9. Meeting someone you feel like you have known forever. This happens rarely. It has happened to me only a handful of times. Not all of these relationships have ended well I am sad to say. But they were still wonderful and I cherish the time that these people were in my life. On the brighter side, some still are.

10. De Ja Vu. Again, these moments don't happen very frequently for me. They used to happen more often when I was younger. They occur more rarely as I have gotten older. I know that they freak some people out. I see them as signs as being on the right path. Or, to put it another way, I am in the right place at the right time.


If you are wondering why C-Man and H-Girl aren't on this list, it's because I consider them family. Technically, we aren't biologically related, but we are still family. They are as close to kids as I will ever have. So, I didn't leave them out. I am sure that I could have thought of many other things if I put my mind to it. But who has all day to read my blog????

Now, the third part of this is to pass this award on to 10 other bloggers:

Kristin at Bringing at Pretty Back

Carol at Carol's Prints

Kimber at Convergence

Misery from Leftovers from Illumination

Debra at Write on Target

Mitzi at Southern Style

Autumn in Jeans at Living Out Loud

Kim at Saving My Life a Weightloss/PCOS Blog

Linda at BarMitzvahzilla

Kimberly at Confessions: The Secret Life of A Writer


The fourth, and final, part of this award is to let the victims honorees know that they have been gifted with the I Love Your Blog Award so that they can share ten things and pass it on.

Whew.

Have a lovely day. And I say that with all of the connotations of the word intact.