lover

We met last week for lunch, holding hands and laughing softly. I love him so much - he's my best friend, and we don't get too much time together. I saw a friend - she came over, and I introduced HER to HIM, but not the other way around. Standing at the register, she came back over and said to him, "YOU know who I am, but who are you?" I gestured my hand toward him and said, "He's my ..."

He interrupted and said loudly, "I'm her lover."

Andrea behind the counter guffawed loudly and walked away, a huge smile on her face.

My friend looked confused. "Are you serious?" she asked us.

If you know Steve and I together, you'll know that we're sort of like a comedy routine, the two of us, back and forth, not missing a beat. It's hysterical, at least to us, but you have to understand our VERY dry sense of humor, or you'll think we're serious. Seriously. Like my friend.

We set her straight, and she laughed while she walked out the door, shaking her head. I told Melissa the story (I tell Melissa everything), and she laughed. "Well, you DO have a lover. Steve." Right.

What IS it about communication? In my work, I HAVE to be absolutely impeccable with my Word, because I am looking into people's souls, and have to convey clarity with what I'm seeing. I need to be clear. Maybe that's why I joke so much in my "other" life - to counterbalance the absolute seriousness of my work (well, we laugh a lot in my work, too, but it's different, more focused). I also love to joke because life can be very difficult and hard and sad. Again the point/counterpoint - the yin/yan of it all. The balance. And Lord knows I love my balance - it keeps me on my feet and not curled up in bed. It keeps me walking every morning when I'd rather be watching "Scrubs," my hands curled around my hot mug of Peace Coffee decaf. It keeps me smiling and laughing THROUGH it all, not because of, or in spite of, WITH.

It ALL walks hand in hand down my path - my mom's dying, I love my husband, I wish I lived in Bismarck to be closer to my parents, I love my red fireplace. No difference - all different colors, textures, and brushstrokes on my canvas. No single color here for me - no, it's a riot of rainbow colors and wild movements, on a calm sky blue bed, rolling rolling.