What would happen if I was hit by a streetcar and you were still buying flowers? I am not a rich man...

(from Enchanted April, one of the greatest movies, ever!!)


I bought tulips last night at Whole Foods. I couldn't help myself.

And it is 8:30 in the morning and I am watching Jerry Maguire. A movie I love for many reasons, but right now because I can deliver the lines along with Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger. And I'm halfway through the breakfast of champions: a box of Samoas.

It's middle of the movie and Renee Zellweger just walked into the chicken salsa meant for Jerry. She has gone off to change her shirt and the boy (Ray) has sneaked into the living room to talk with Jerry.

I'm having a hard time with the Pollyanna bit this morning, so bear with me. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm sick of taking out the trash every Sunday night and going up to my garret alone. I so long for community. The Open Door is just a baby community--the people that were my rocks have moved on. And if there was someone else who was sticking around to the end because they didn't want to go home and put the trash on the curb, they were hiding it as well as I was. So I went to Whole Foods and bought myself some tulips.

My hometown is a place that doesn't exist, except in bits and pieces of my memory. Last year for Lent, John had Chad King come to the Arts Council to do a clay demonstration. We each got a piece of clay. Make something that you want to change over Lent. I made a heart. It has healed and broken a thousand times since then. A friend of mine made a New Year's Resolution. Well, it was more like a "thought for the year." She was going to say "I want to be dating someone by the end of 2006." Then she changed it to "I want to think differently about dating this year." She's got a braver heart than mine. Lent starts in two days.

When I was in second grade, we lived in Bonn, Germany. In Germany, they don't celebrate Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) but Rosen Montag (Red Monday). I got to take the day off school (or maybe we didn't have school) and go with my Mom and Dad to my dad's office, where there was a huge party. I dressed up as a ballerina, with a pink tutu and got a prize for prettiest costume. I had a box of candy that I kept under my bed for weeks. I wish I had a picture--but I can still see it in my mind's eye.

About suffering: 1 Peter 4:1-2 (Message); 1 Peter 4:1-2 (CEV).

I really like the line from 1 Peter 4:1: Now you must be ready to suffer as he did, because suffering shows that you have stopped sinning.

Well, I guess that's one thing I have going for me. Oh, and the tulips.