Sunday, June 27, 2010

Do you believe in love at first sight?



I am a cynic. I need to put that out there right away. I write about romance and the way I dream of love being but, in truth, I have my doubts about love and especially about love at first sight.


A dear friend was telling several others and me that she believed she had found her true love and that it had happened within a few days. In other words, it was love at first sight. My other friends enthusiastically gave her positive encouragement to open her heart to this suddenly intense relationship. I, on the other hand with my trials and hard knocks in the school of love and relationships, hung back afraid to encourage that which I felt was sure to fail.

So I talked to my writer friends to get their input and expected a wave of negativity on the subject of love at first sight. I expected them to say, “Yeah. I write about love at first sight, but I think it’s a bunch of baloney really.” I could not have been more surprised by their answers than if they had said pigs fly.

All of them believed love could happen in an instant. Some had witnessed it in their friends and acquaintances—love that happened at once and lasted like 24 years and still going strong. Some had stories of their personal love at first sight stories that would lift anyone’s heart. Not one said that it was impossible to fall in love in a single moment and have that spark last forever.

Therefore, I must conclude that love at first sight is not only possible but happens and when it does happen, it is as uplifting to the heart as shooting star.

Sarah

Monday, June 14, 2010

Happy Father's Day Pop!

For My Dad On Father's Day

Although I most often think of Pop on our mutual birthday, this year with Father’s Day coming up, he is frequently on my mind.


It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that Pop and I began to have a meaningful father-daughter relationship. Before that, we just fought most of the time. He was determined to tell me what to do and I was just determined not to do a thing he said.

The truth is I owe him so much for things I didn’t think were so important at the time such as the things he taught me about the weather—how a halo around the moon means rain in three days, how different cloud formations indicate certain weather changes and how warm and cold fronts can change everything. He taught me about navigating social dilemmas like how to tell when someone is lying, how to know the difference between being a tattle-tale and when it’s important to report something amiss, and he taught me about our history, who our ancestors were and why our clan ended up in America and the things he loved about his father.

Because of the things he shared with me, I can now pass them on to the next generation. He lives through me. So, when I look up into the sky at the clouds and know that rain is coming, well, that’s my inner Pop.

Happy Father’s Day.

Sarah