--A BUSHEL AND A PECK

 

…I went to the doctor and guess what he told me?  He said, “Boy you better try to have fun, no matter what you do.”

…It’s difficult being truthful with your doctor.  That’s why I never go.

…I’m a fistfight that’s not going to happen.

…I don’t have peaks or valleys anymore.  I don’t get too high or too low.  Mostly I’m just pleasantly depressed.

…Things that don’t work today can work tomorrow.  One of my best friends recently told me that.  I hope they’re right.

…I’m going to put this world away for a minute and pretend that I’m not in it. 

…Everywhere you go, you’re the star of the show.

…Love’s got a funny way of keeping score.

…If you find your way back here, you might notice that I’m having a record year.

…Sometimes it’s best to just to let the book fall open.

…The spare (or despair) takes us in when we have nowhere else to go.

…All I did today was make a list of beautiful questions.

…When you’re alone a lot, you have to invent your own happiness.  It’s actually not that hard, if you try.

…Anytime it hails, I feel happy.  I love the thunderous rumble of it, the thousand white pebbles bouncing all over the place, the sound like convulsing, that feeling like the world is closing in but not quite.  It feels urgent, as if the sky is purging itself, yet in your mind you know it’s not going to last.

…The other day it started hailing.  I mean really hard.  I couldn’t hear anything other than the ping, ping, pinging, and my dog got a little anxious.  She thought someone was knocking at the door repeatedly.

…Hail is my favorite precipitation.  I’d like to lie down on the grass and have it bury me.

…In a lot of ways, music is the glue that keeps everything together.

…I’m slowly planning my survival.

…I go out every night, but I sleep all day.

…One of these days the dog is going to talk.  I wonder what she’ll say.

…Sleep and I have a strange relationship.  One of us is always greedier than the other.

…My neighbor has been my neighbor for ten years now.  In that entire time, he’s never said more than ten words to me.  I’m okay with that.  I get that people want their privacy.  As I’m writing this, he’s flying a miniature motorized airplane over the lake.  Mostly it’s on my side of the lake so that it looks like it’s going to crash into my office window.  It looks a little boring, but he really likes it.  He’ll fly that thing for hours and hours.

…Imperfectly perfect—do you really think there’s such a thing?  And if so, please explain it to me.

…Yes, please. 

…I don’t know if you know it or not, but your happiness makes me very happy.  Your success makes me glad.  Truly.

…I’m not tense.  I’m just very, very alert.

…There’s a really long trail—40 plus miles—not far from my house.  I usually run beside the trail where horseback riders have cut a path.  It’s easier on the knees and the route, while going in the same direction, allows you to see more things because sometimes you’re six feet below where the trail is.  Yesterday I was trotting along and right in the middle of the path was a cat.  At first I thought it was stuffed.  Then I thought it might be dead, though its eyes were open and it was looking at me.  I figured it would dart away once I got close, but it didn’t budge, so I ran around it, saying, “Way to stand your ground, Cat.”  He didn’t answer or look back.  Kind of strange, but kind of cool.

…This is where I usually find myself lately, a little past midnight.

…I’d go crawling down the avenue.

…Is it really better to burn out than to fade away?  I guess we’ll find out.

…I’m following your lead, so please be easy with that leash.

…The thing is, we’ve still got time.

…You’re the last thing on my mind (just ask Aaron Wright.)

…And a hug around the neck.