As I was walking across the parking lot earlier today, my mind was thinking. Like usual, never ending, thoughts racing. They play music you can hear inside the stores. Duh! But you can also hear the music outside on the sidewalks in front of the stores. I realized the same song was playing at Hallmark and Bed Bath and Beyond meaning the entire outdoor mall was on the same muzak loop. Sweet Mother of Pearl! And the lineup was killer. I guess not really muzak but rather Top 20 hits from today. Several times throughout my jaunt I sang out loud and I danced. Electric Slide you betcha.
I was happy. Content. My cell phone was pinging. My hero said my post was excellent. A real writer said that. And another dear soul used the adjective great! I get a rush from writing. I am carrying around my pen and paper now everywhere I go because I do not want to forget. Being out and about gave me tons of material. I was observing everything and taking in the scenery.
Lately I have started watching couples. Trying to figure out what makes relationships work. I have come to the conclusion that while looks may spark the initial interest, what keeps people together has to be much more than that. B and I have been married 33 years. We don’t fight. We used to but not in a very long time. We’ve been through some really rough sH!t and instead of breaking, we cleave unto each other. Why the hell did I say cleave? Is that even a word? Yes, Merriam Webster says:
cleave
adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly
That about sums our relationship up. But we are ordinary. Popcorn. The other night we had microwave popcorn. The single serve bags. Why? Because they’re cute and we’re phat ;).
The conversation went something like this …
B: Even though we just bought it, this popcorn is stale
Me: Yes but only 100 calories so yay us!
B: I wonder if we could make popcorn the way we used to. Remember?
Me: How could I forget?
Memories galore. I can see myself reaching into the cabinet in the kitchen of our rent house for the skillet and lid. Hot oil. Kernels. Taking turns shaking the pan over the flame for what felt like hours until pop … pop … pop … PopPopPopPopPop !!!!! Then we’d pour real melted butter over it before finally adding salt. No one knew or cared what the calorie count was. It took time to make and that time spent together … priceless.
As always, more to come.