Disappointment

It is easy to be disappointed in Obama. It will never be possible for him to live up to the high expectations placed on him by those of us who support him. He is very much the lover that will not fulfill all our dreams. We all have experienced disappointments at times...much like we have disappointed others and they us. It's just life right?

It seems to me that love and disappointment are almost complimentary. In fact I am reading "The Mysterious Life of the Heart: Writings from The Sun about Passion, Longing, and Love" and there is a passage in one of the stories that essentially says love is the art of managing disappointments. The lovers and dreamers amongst us know all about that. (Don't all sigh at once).

Anyway our President just gave a great speech, which is not unusual for him as we know. But I love the nuances in how he thinks and Andrew approves. Lets continue to love and be disappointed.

My people

One of my favorite pictures. These are the people in my neighborhood. One is grandma, the other mom. One is gone now. The other is still here, and though we've had our ups and downs, she has my back. Still here...showing me the way.

Teach

I get the love of reading from my mother. The writing is all me. We should all be teachers

Missing you

Today I sent a text to a friend. It simply said "sometimes I miss you" and, although you would never know it, I am very shy and so I felt very vulnerable. It's always about rejection is it not, when you decide to tell someone how you feel. Later, having lunch at my favorite location, I was talking to the owner about her son and she told me how mad he was at his father. His father has never "been there" for him and so, at the tender age of 24, he has decided that the non-existence of his father is better than recognition. I cringed.

I never wanted to be an absentee father. I am divorced and my two sons live in a different state. My father was not "there" for me. In fact, until I was in my late thirties I had never heard my father say the words "I love you." This story is not atypical and in many cases they are too much the norm. And then I though of my friend who I missed and remembered that she too had an absent father. We are all in this together. All wanting to give voice to our feelings of abandonment and wanting someone to miss us, to value us. I want my sons to know I miss and love them and my friends to know that I miss them sometimes. I want to be missed.