--YOU WERE THE HIGHLIGHT OF OUR DAY

…I woke up feeling hopeful this morning.  There’s probably nothing better than that.  Well, maybe waking up feeling grateful.

 …In a darkened place I watched my soul replace itself with something new and fresh and glistening.

…Rain or no rain, everyday also throws up a rainbow and I’m not going to waste a bit of the beauty of this.

…Catch me laughing.  Catch me drinking past dawn.  Catch me singing.  Catch me beaming, open-armed.

…The thing about self-talk is, when you’re thinking about it, you’re self-talking, so best be careful what you’re thinking.

…Don’t you just love honeybees?  No?  I do.  A honeybee’s wing can beat 11,4000 times per minute.  But they also have five eyes, and some with hair on them (really).

…No lack of wouldn’t could be my undoing.

…Something almost as surprising is The Philippines having over 7,100 islands.  It would be quite a job naming them all.  I wonder whose responsibility that was.

…I wanted The Patriots to win the Super Bowl because I like Tom Brady (I know a lot of people hate him as much as I love him.  Please don’t shoot me.)  I was glad the Eagles won, though.  They city needed it as much as the team.  What was shocking was fan reaction the day after.  Someone actually said this,“Losing a Super Bowl is worse than losing your parents.”  Pretty unbelievable, right?

…“We think too much and feel too little."

"A day without laughter is a day wasted."

"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world—not even our troubles.”  Charlie Chaplin said all that.  Pretty bright guy, old Charlie.  Not only funny, but sage, too.

…A group of otters is called a romp.  Now isn’t that just so cute?  A few years back I saw three otters frolicking on the dock, sort or rolling around and wrestling like puppies.  They were definitely romping.  It was one of the cutest things I’ve seen.

…Hummingbirds can be seen differently depending on how they hover and the light they allow you to see, and in that way, I am very much like a hummingbird.

…Often, the most important moments are the most mundane ones enacted in the right places, then narrated without expectation.

…When I was so busy, wrapped up in the corporate world, I thought the way to make up for lost time with my kids was to take them to some huge event—The Grammys, Britney Spears, etc.  After I left that world for an opposite world I realized the best moments, the most important moments, happen on a fifteen-minute car ride to the bus stop when it’s just you and your child talking about whatever comes to mind.

…I’m trying to write with the headlights on.  So maybe I don’t know exactly where I’m going, but at least I can see in front of me, foot by foot, yard by yard, mile by mile.

--BABY YOU’RE A FIREWORK

…You’re worth it.  Until you understand that this is all that matters, it will always be too much.

…Sometimes I think it’s the bullfrogs out in the marsh making all that racket, when it’s really just the squeeze toys in my head.

…For a second there, I thought something bad might happen, but then I remembered that 90 percent of what we worry about never comes to fruition.  I also remembered that it’s best not to look down when you’re up high in a tall building. 

…I think I would start to lose my grip on reality if I didn’t have people I loved and needed on hand, people who loved and needed me right back.

…I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you.—That’s a simply lyric, but pretty powerful, if you think about it.

…But it’s not that simple.  I mean what is?  What’s worth something, really worth something, that is just so easy to get?

…It’s almost strange, what you can see so clearly once you detach from a situation. 

…Lately I have been having the types of exchanges that don’t involve me, but are still filled with lots of meaningful eye contact.

…Sometimes I watch the moon (I know, I know, the damn moon again…) the way some people are mesmerized by a lava lamp.

…I’m sorry, but I can still be half lonely, yet half alive, and those can both happen when I’m in a crowded room.

…I’ve been really lethargic lately.  But don’t worry, it’s not your fault.

…Do you want to talk about it?

…When the crowds push against you inelegantly, it’s best not to push back.  It’s best to let them push and push and push until they’re tuckered out.

…After all these years I’m still having epiphanies about myself.  I’ll take that as a good sign.  The other option would just be playing into one of the latest epiphany I’ve had.

…Often the best thing to do when everything seems jagged or muddy is to communicate, and be gentle.

…Not to be political, but why do Republicans think they have the corner on God?  Seems to me there’s plenty of God to go around.

…I prefer my heroes flawed.

…Let’s celebrate the first time you cried naked in someone’s bed.  Let’s honor that with a thin, honest smile.

…Some people like the act of cleaning up small, organized messes of planned mistakes.  Me, I’d rather not make them, but probably most of us feel this way.

…Forget logic.  Logic doesn’t know what you want.

…Hey, what do you have to hide?

…You can tell a lot about a family from the photos on their mantle.  You can tell a lot from the ornaments on a family’s tree.

…I’m just thinking out loud.

…Yet I’m still here.

…And we’re going to be fine, so the Haters can go ahead and hate someplace else.

--A BOY IS A HALF-FORMED THING

…Some people like to sweat.  Others would rather take a bath with bubbles, a glass of wine, and a book.

…Some people have a fear of long words.  It’s actually called Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, a word that my computer underscores in red, though it’s actually a real word.

…It’s nice to have someone check in on you.  I think it’s one of the kinder things a person can do for you.

…Knowing my flaws is one thing I’m really good at, but sometimes the less I know, the better.

…I believe everyone is allowed to have a bad day.  I just have to remind myself of that when someone is really rude or cruel.

…You don’t always need a silver lining, but I’m always happy when I find one.

…Words are all I’ve ever lived by, and yet, after all these years they can still confound me.  If I parse them too much, I’m really in trouble.

…Last year, TSA confiscated almost 4,000 guns at the airport, ten guns a day per airport, and a 17% increase from the prior year.  Really?  What are people thinking?

…It’s important to remember that sometimes when you call someone a Bitch, or they call you one, it’s done in fun, or in love.

…Whenever I get painfully honest with my friends, I feel a sense of lightness.

…I think it’s always important to emphasize the importance of forgiveness.  In little things, but mostly in the big ones.

…People will think what they think, and I’ve never been a fan of gossip.  There’s a difference between gossip and useful information.  I find gossip almost always to be petty and most telling about the gossiper.

…Where’s all of your stuff?  It was a pretty short list.

…It’s Super Bowl weekend.  I’m going to go out on a limb and predict it will be the lowest rated Super Bowl in a long while.  Still, Americans will eat 1.4 billion chicken wings during the game, 15,000 tons of chips, 8 million pounds of guacamole and 10 million pounds of ribs.  Just watch.

…Tonight, the moon looks like I feel--wayward, thin, lightheaded and pale.  In fact, we could be twins.  That’s why we need to talk.

…Sometimes the moon’s gleaming indifference is a little hard to take.  But she’s a beauty nonetheless.

…"Aspire, break bounds. Endeavor to be good, and better still, best."  Robert Browning said that.  Yep.  He was right.

…Sometimes you don’t choose the book.  Sometimes it chooses you.

…The rain sounds like it’s trying to tell me something.  Like, “Get out.”

…Sometimes the rain has some big fists, and it’s not exactly patient either.

...One of the best questions I’ve been asked this week is, “Why did you burn the pictures?”

…I could be less tender.  It might be good to add some concrete mix to my diet.

…This is the end of my body as you know it, its superfluous penchant for love, its poorer costume, its shiny disaster.

…Don’t cry for me, Argentina.