About a trillion years ago in our small Alabama town, Lynne managed a restaurant owned by a family who were good friends of her and her sister Liz. At that time, I had two teaching jobs, but I was also in the middle of a divorce. To make extra money, I picked up a few night shifts at the restaurant every week.
Frequently, a man and woman would come in and sit for a long time in one of the booths. Sometimes they ate; other times, they only ordered coffee. He was an artist, but I won’t name him because of the rest of what I want to share.
We had no idea what their story was. Did they work together? Were they friends? Lovers? Were either or both of them married to other people? There was something so mysteriously appealing about them. You could feel their attraction to each other even though we never heard them say anything romantic. They didn’t hold hands or show any other physical affection. But watching them, we just knew how powerful their relationship was. We felt protective of them. They always got the best service and the most privacy from us. I’m still protecting them.
In the chapter that I finished Monday, I have a couple with that kind of magic. It shimmers around them. They are not in a situation where they can be in love with each other.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
Meanwhile, Alabama actually voted by 2/3 to review it’s insanely large “constitution” including to remove racist references (even though they have been “voided” with “amendments”). Apparently, after the civil war, some white supremmist jerk decided to find all sorts of ways to rewrite Alabama’s constitution to make it a white state in the deep South.
https://loweringthebar.net/2020/11/alabamas-ginormous-constitution-will-be-recompiled-made-less-racist.html
I’d say they should just start over, and this time get it right, acknowledging and enshrining full equality, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and justice for all this time around, you know, just for a change to the deep South’s hate-thy-neighbor-dislike-of-the-unlike-trademark, etc.
With all our missteps and mistakes, wars, famine, pandemics, poverty, destruction, still we must and do strive to do better, make better, be better. To course correct. To create and appreciate, and if we will, to take lessons from this beautiful planet we inherited.
Mostly, to still believe in love and falling in love.
Love, it’s real! Go for it!
Always!
Are those grits? I love buttery grits. Another thing I love, when I was able to hang out at Starbucks more often, I loved imagining the lives of people there. There was a couple there who I imagined were on their first date … he wiped the”sweat” from her cup and I thought “oh he is already in love with her.” I find love in the little things
Grits, yes. That’s actually a plate from the Clover Grill, and even though I was full from dinner, when I found it to use for this post, I wanted breakfast SO MUCH. Thus it will be breakfast for dinner at Houndstooth Hall tonight. Including grits if we have them. I haven’t checked the pantry.
They say the devil is in the detail, a saying I take to mean, Pay attention. Those little things are all part of a larger story.
Me too. I wanted breakfast after seeing that, though grits are not my thing, so substitute the toast and grits with pancakes, please 🙂
(Also, I tried but never really understood what made chicken and waffles such a thing at The Waffle Spot in San Diego. It was better with real maple syrup, though the next time I was in San Diego.)
I confess I’ve never had chicken and waffles. There’s at least one place here that’s popular for the dish.
We had breakfast tonight! We considered pancakes but went with biscuits. Eggs, bacon, grits, and biscuits. I am STUFFED with biscuits right now.
You mean they can’t be in love with each other?
Yes, there are impediments to their love. But love often defies reason and restrictions.