Blissfully Unaware

I think whoever said "ingnorance is bliss" also coined the phrase "knowledge is power". Think about it...they both claim to achieve some peak level of existance but one has to be wrong. Am I right? I must say that I used to think that ignorance was bliss, but the more I contemplate it, the less I believe it. It's a fake bliss. It's "bliss" builds a world that denies facts. Knowledge is power, but if you add ignorance it becomes a super power. Think about it, you don't have to know alot if the person/s that you are dealing with know nothing. If everyone is in the dark you can do anything you want. Sound like power to you?

Depth Perception

Do you ever wonder if the friendships that you have are born out of convenience? If it were a difficult to stay in touch, would both parties be willing to endure that?......is it worth it? I think that we all have those people that we see so often that we become friends simply because we are present in each other's lives consistently. Case and point, high school; you see the same people everyday for four years, but after you graduate, it is no longer easy to stay in touch with those people; so they have reunions to keep everyone up to speed. Sure some people stay close friends outside of high school or college but for the most part people lose contact with them. At present I find myself wondering about the friends that I have now. If it was no longer simple would the friends that I consider to be close work to stay in touch with me as I do the same with them? Or would I find out through the fire of trial that it was a friendship based on convenience? How deep or shallow does the river of friendship run? People talk all the time about meeting someone half way. I'll do for you what you do for me. Though one would only ever ask someone to meet them half way, you can't help but wonder how far they would be willing to go to keep the friendship. I understand that beating on a dead horse is a lost cause and no one wants to be the only one trying to keep a friendship alive..... it's like trying to teeter-totter solo; it just doesn't work. I guess that there are just things that come up that make you wonder...

You Can't Spell Reaction Without Action

Sometimes I wish I could lock myself in the highest room of the tallest tower and just think. Away from everyone and everything; away from distractions and problems and just to think things through. It goes without saying that very few situations can afford such a luxury. Many times a problem requires an answer on the spot or at the very least timely enough that something worse doesn't set in. For instance grape juice spilt on white carpet.... if that happened to me I'd wish that I had an hour or two to look up what the best removal method was and purchase necessary items for that method. However if I were to to do that the juice would turn into a nasty stain and my problem would be worse. Though I had good intentions, my inaction caused more problems than what I had to begin with. Then there are other problems that present themselves slightly more complex than grape juice; things like relationships. They are fragile things to begin with but if you throw a problem into the mix it can feel like you are walking on egg shells. If it is something that you prize or value, at least for me, you'd want to think about the best course of action. However, things like this are not always or rarely are straight forward. The problem can be about as complicated as it's participants are. There isn't always a right way or fail proof way of doing things, which is why having time to think things through would be so nice. But as with the grape juice it is a luxury that isn't feasible. Sometimes we can put a problem off for fear of the out come that the problem, which may have started out rather minor, grows due to indecision. It's not only that the problem might get worse but other problems might take root and start to grow as well. Things like resentment, anger, jealousy, bitterness, which in and of themselves are problems enough. It's kind of like taking a pill for a bad knee and getting several serious side effects that are just as serious as the original problem rather than going for the cure....it's easy to take a pill and pretend that everything is ok, but the pill doesn't fix anything it only masks the pain. Where as you could have a surgery to fix your knee and in the long wrong have less pain. That doesn't make it any easier though.

Prince and the Pauper

I've been studying the promises that God has given us in the Bible, and sometimes it just seems to be "too good to be true". I mean, everything that we could ever want/need is right there, completely taken care of. We get so beat down all the time thinking like everyone else on this world; forgetting that we are children of a king! We take this FAR and exceedingly to lightly. Do you understand what this means? All that it entails? Think about this, in all the movies the child/children of the king are given the best of everything; they are born to succeed. Everything they could ever need is taken care of completely. They come to expect that every need will be completely taken care of. I have said before that I don't want to let my inner nerd show too much and I think that it's necessary to repeat myself so that I can keep some sort of dignity here. I was watching Clash of the Titans and Perseus was a child of Zeus, which made him a Demi-God. Though he himself (for reasons of the story that are totally irrelevant to the point that I am trying to make) did not, everyone else around him expected him to be favored, they expected him to be cut above everyone else. Yes, I realize that the similarities are faint, but it struck me that, this character, son of a god, could walk in a victory that most others could not. He had the favor and affection of someone bigger than himself. Why are we to be any different? We serve a God who unlike these other fictitious depictions of deity, loves us all the time whether we deserve it or not, has seen where our feet are and where they will be, is never suprised, and who has given us the victory to every battle we could ever face. Why shouldn't we walk taller? Why shouldn't we be fully persuaded that our God will meet all of our needs? Why should we be down cast like everyone else down here? Why should we be moved by things down here? We are different! Face facts, we have more, Expect it! Walk in it!

Envy in the Arts

I love every facet of the arts. Music, painting, drawing, literary arts, sculpting, drama, poetry, dance, photography; I love it all. I can't do it all but that does not stop my appreciation for it. I mostly stay in the realm of painting and drawing (though I have dabbled in some of the other areas). The other day I got to thinking about each individual area, the pros and cons. The one thing that I thought about was how little of an effect drawing and painting have on emotions. When someone sings a song or a musician plays a instrument they can get you to feel things. They can make you feel sad, excited, happy, mad. In a movie, the background music manipulates how you feel about or accept the scene. A drama can move you to tears or cause you to laugh. A well written piece of poetry can give you cause to think. The creators of each of these things can share their emotion with you through their art. But I ask you, how many times has a painting moved you to tears? or caused you to laugh? How often does a portrait overwhelm you with emotion? The answer to all of these is seldom if ever. I envy this.... a lot. I want people to feel what I'm feeling. I want people to understand the meaning behind a picture. On the flipside, however, a picture gives an exact depiction of what I'm thinking. Music might fail in this area, as it gives guidelines for a picture, but the exact image is left up to the individual to build. With painting or drawing I can make you see exactally what I'm seeing. It's a trade off, for sure, I do envy the emotional aspect of things, but I guess that's what gives these things their individualty.

The A,B,C's of "I am"

The A,B,C's of what makes me me......

A_ awesome - what started out as a joke sort of caught on and just stuck around.
B_ bubble wrap - When life throws a bad day my way bubble wrap is a great remdy
C_ cautious - I never just jump into things I tend to observe and scope things first
D_ dance - My feet and hands just move.....I can't really help it
E_ encourage- there are alot of things that I can do wrong but this is one that I can do right
F_ friends - sunshine on a cloudy day
G_ graffiti - a form of art that has captured me
H_ happy- I like to make people happy....it's kinda my goal, my motto
I_ independent- somethings I just like to do for myself
J_ joke- I do it....perhaps to a fault
K_ Kreative- I'm so creative I put it under "k" instead
L_ lover and a fighter- Love makes you fight for things
M_mint chocolate chip ice cream the green kind
N_ night sky- the stars are so awe inspiring
O_ Oh No What Do We Do!?- one of my favorite lines
P_pandas- I love them!
Q_ Quiet- sometimes what you don't say is just as important as what you do
R_ reserved- I tend to play my cards pretty close to my chest
S_ sports- I LOVE FOOTBALL, and soccer, and college basketball and...
T_ t-shirts- ......50% of my wardrobe
U_ unwritten- I leave so much out and so much unsaid
V_ victory- I play to win
W_ wonder - just stop and imagine
X_ x-men - as if blogging wasn't nerdy enough I am a comic book reader to boot
Y_ young- let no one look down on you because of your age
Z_ zany - silliness is so much more fun than being serious. I like the off the wall stuff that tickles your intreague

There you have it a piece of me from the A,B,C's.

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

I hear a lot of people say "guard your heart" as I'm sure you have as well. When you think of a knight guarding a castle, you think of a man in shining armor ready to defend the castle from any enemy, but "defend" doesn't just mean waiting for trouble to come to you. Sometimes in order to prevent an attack on your heart you must go to where the trouble is and stop it there before it even gets close to your heart. Think about this; if a country is going to be fighting a battle, wouldn't they rather be invading the other country as opposed to being invaded? It's a lot messier to win a battle when you are doing it from your own soil rather than going to the problem and attacking it there. Translated to my point, don't wait until issues or minor problems in your life are full blown strongholds. Take care of the things that are out to damage you and your heart at the source, instead of trying to ward it off once it has taken root in your soul.

But That's A Girl Color

Colors hate labels. Think it over, how would you feel if you were the color pink and because of commercialism and what is considered socially acceptable, only half of the world could truely enjoy you? How unfortunate. Another thing why is there "light blue", "light green", "light yellow", light every color, but no "light red" only pink. Good question, no? Black is evil. White is good....why? Another thing that just cooks my goose is black and brown. I am fully persuaded that the whole "black clashes with brown" theory is just a conspiracy to keep them apart. I'd imagine that they are best friends and the cruelness of society has made it it's goal to keep them forever seperated. A sad tale really, which is why I have made it my personal goal to see that they are tastefully reunited. When it comes to colors I try to be fair and impartial, which is why when asked what my favorite color is I will always say "clear, as you can see every color through it." Every color has it's place..... a purpose. There is no such thing as an ugly color, perhaps one that is out of place, but never ugly. They are for girls and boys alike. Enjoy the colors, all of them.

Sometimes Practiacal isn't that Practical

I used to think that the people who would say "If I can't see it, touch it, or feel it then it can't be true." or "I only believe what I can see." were so smart. I thought that they were so practical, and to me it sounded like pure genius. These people demanded proof before they would trust anything. It was a safe way to think, I mean, if you never trust anything until after it's in front of you, you'll never be let down or disappointed. This is the very sort of thinking that will get you no where. It is faithless, believing in nothing but what you have in front of you. The Christian faith is built on faith which according to Hebrews is the evidence of things not seen. There is instance after instance in the Bible where individuals had to put there trust in the unseen. Truly for us who live after Christ's death, faith is required for the basic fact of believing that Christ ever walked the earth, because we surely can not see it. No great or mighty thing came from any man in the Bible that did not have faith. In fact, having no/little faith was the cause of big things not happening. Even in the secular world today the big icons of society were those that had vision of things that could be and worked toward that goal. Sure there are exceptions to that rule, but it would be an exception; as in, more often than not, it is the visionaries that led the way. All this to say that I'm no longer viewing that statement as being smart or practical but rather as being vision less, complacent to a fault, and impractical.

Expecting the Unexpected Was What You Were Expecting

Expectation, it's a good thing and a bad thing; a wide topic with both good and bad applications that can be applied to various areas of our lives. Clearly it would take me forever and a day to delve into every aspect of expectation as it applies to our lives (which I honestly have no desire to do anyways) so I will focus on one are in particular; which is expectation as it applies to the person that we are or want to be as opposed to the person that people expect us to be. So let's get started. I'm sure most everyone has heard a variation of the statement that is something to the effect of "You move to a new town and get a fresh start. You can be whoever you want to be." It's fairly common thinking but it wasn't until today that I asked myself why. Why do you get a new start? Why can you be whoever you want to be? Why couldn't you be whoever it is you wanted to be before? My answer to these is simply expectation. As people get to know you they expect the traits, charecteristics, habits, presentation, all of the nuances that make you you. However due to a change in maturity or lifestyle, perhaps not having represented yourself accuratley in the first place(which could be due to a variety of reasons), needing a change for something different, or any other number of reasons; that their expectation may no longer fit you. Maybe who you wanted to be before is no longer who you want to be now. The reasons are endless but the point that I'm straining to make is that we are changing, growing older, finding out who we are and we can't be expected to stay the same. Change is as natural as breathing but it's about as awkward as Superman attending a tea party. But don't let that stop you from being who it is that you want to be. Don't let someone's expectaions define who you are; life is too short for that. Besides they'll get over it and make up new expectations soon enough.

Property of MINE!!!!

So I've been thinking a lot lately about how we view and protect the promises of God that we are given. This will be a short post as I am simply conveying a thought and not a trying to lecture or preach. Here it is though, if the devil told you that he was stealing your salvation, what would you say? I'd say that that's impossible. The Bible says that you can't steal my salvation it's MINE! ......So what about the other promises? God gave us those, just the same as He gave us salvation so why shouldn't we act the same way with our health, finances, relationships, etc?

After Ever After

I like to believe that fairytales still happen but did you ever notice that the line "and they lived happily ever after" is usually put in the middle of the story and not at the end? I mean, come on!Are we to assume that nothing of great significance happens after they say it? Or that all intrgue and interest that has held your attention from the begining of the story until that line has stopped? I just don't think that I could ever be satisfied with an ending like that. Sure the idealist in me is in it's greatest raptures because YAY happiness, but the other side of me(whose head is not in the clouds) just can't accept that sort of an ending. I realize that a book must at some point come to an end, otherwise it would never be published, and I, for one, do not have the time to read a never ending story. That being said, pehaps my request is unreasonable and "happily ever after" is the best way to end a happy tale.....but this still does not stop my brain from wondering what does happen after ever after anyway? Does anyone else find it unusual that just when everything is right and good and all the dilemas that plagued the hero or heroine of the tale have been vanquished, is when the story comes to a close. Just when Prince Charming rides off into the sunset with his prized princess they draw the curtian. My head just wants to explode with questions! Such as: do the Royal in-laws get along in the planning of the marriage ball or does the conflict over the center pieces spark a medieval war? How are their nation ruling skills as a couple? What about kids? See what I mean? So many things left yet unanswered and they leave us to settle with a measley little "happily ever after". Not that I have a problem with that line, as I am a firm believer that any self respecting fairy tale MUST be ended with it,.....I just think that they end it too soon. Can anyone say sequal?

My Lips Are Sealed

My mouth gets me in some real pickles sometimes. I think it would be easier if I kept my mouth shut 24/7. That's a little on the exaggerated side but, you get the point. I'm learning everyday that less is more especially when it comes to words. If my words were few then my troubles would be fewer. It is a challenge to myself to think before I speak and only say half of what I think is so important.

I Meant What I Said And I Said What I Meant....Or Did I?

I think we take our words for granted. I'll be directing this as much to myself as I would for anyone else. The older I get and the more I really think about it the less fond of sarcasm I become. It feels so strange for me to say something like that, seeing as how a good many of the comments that I make are devoted to sarcasm. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.....and to be honest I sure don't want what sometimes comes out of my mouth, and often through my head, to be what is found in abundance in my heart. I have written off my words for the longest time souly because I was "just joking", but there is something about the way that my speech and that verse line up that I'm not ok with. The Bible talks frequently about speaking words of life and building each other up.....and I'd have to say that that is the exact opposite of what sarcasm accomplishes. Something that I have noticed is that if it's something widely accepted by the world then chances are better than not that it's not the Christian thing to do, and sarcasm is something that is widely accepted by the world as a great source of entertainment in general.

I have found that sarcasm has gotten me in trouble because someone took something the wrong the way, and sure some people take teasing better than others, but why would you want to say something that would be questionable anyway? It's a good deal more difficult to hurt someones feelings when you're speaking only words of life and love. How can saying the exact same thing using only a different tone of voice make mean the difference between a joke or a mean comment? The more I think about it the less of a difference I see and the lower my opinion of sarcasm becomes. So I challenge you as well as myself to mean what you say and say what you mean.

Back: Turning My and Taking Me

So in Worship the other day there was a line in one of the songs that we sang that really struck me as something beautiful. I know this sounds rather redundant as I had a post not to long ago that was quiet similar to this one but I assure you, Kind Reader, that they will be taking two distinct paths.

Every time I walk away you here waitng
Even when I turn my back you are still saying you love me

I got to thinking, how many people would really be waiting, unwavering in hopes that you would turn back around? And on top of that would be saying I love you......outside of a loving parent, I don't see much. Looking at relationships in my life that I would be willing to do that for..... in honest truth .... a few less than I'd like to admit, and being so bold I would assume that that feeling is mutual. That is alot of love. But on the flip side we serve a God who is love and who is waiting and who is ready to take us back the moment we start turning, and best of all He loves us just as much as He would if we never would have turned away in the first place. His love is unguarded, unrestrained, uncautious. He holds no grudge. It's beautiful. He loves us end of story.

Great Question

I was singing "How Great Is Our God" in worship a few Sundays ago, and I know I've sung that song a thousand times but I thought of something this time that I hadn't before. It was during the chorus which goes like this:

How great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
And all will sing
How great, how great
Is our God

And it seems to me that I have, in my mind, always posed this as a statement. HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD! And what a statement it is. But as I was standing there I asked myself, what if I said it as a question?.... How great is our God?.... How great is MY God? ....It gives pause to think, no? If God can only be as big as you are willing to let Him be in your life, then this is a huge thing to consider. I mean God is God; yes that point I'm not arguing. Only the simple fact that God can only do as much in your life as you are willing to let Him. God can (as in He has the capability to) save every single person from hell, but whether or not you except that is up to you. God can heal you but if you don't believe that God still heals, he can't do it for you. Therefore as long as you choose to believe that He can't (whether you are right or not), then your God can't heal. The Bible says that all things are possible to him that believes. "All things" is a statement that requires a Great God, a God without limitations. If you believe that the Bible is completely true (as I do) then from this we can simply derive that what stands between us and a limitless great God, is the limitations that we put on Him.... So ask yourself, How great is your God?....just something to think about.

My Empty Hands Filled With Yours

A dirty face
clothes that were torn
a ragged visage
a frown well worn

My hands were empty
I had nothing to bring
nothing of value
to give to a King

nothing but a tattered,
broken version of me
I showed my empty hands
"Nothing, you see."

Then placing His
hands in mine
"This is what I
wanted the whole time."

The Unspoken

Conversations that are done completely noverbally are a riot. Done intentionally or not I find them to be intriguing to watch. It could be anything from a subtle raise of the eye brow to flapping your arms wildly in the air. It is amazing that when you take away the option of speaking, just what one will resort to, and yet as obscure as the movements may be one still gets the point across. The subtle ones, in my opinion, are the best to watch, and if you are lucky enough to catch one in progress, I think you will agree.

Looking Right at You, or Toward You, Or Through You....

We were singing a song in worship the other day and there was a verse that got me thinking.

I don't want to talk about You
like You're not in the room
I want to look right at You
I want to sing right to You

Out of all the times that I have heard of God's omnipresence, that He inhabits the prases of the His people; out of all the times that we've invited the Holy Spirit into worship, out of all the hymns that we have sung about God being with us; it has never dawned on me that I could be singing to an all powerful, all loving, great God who was right in front of me listening to the song I was singing to Him. I guess I had this second grade perseption of God parting the clouds and pearing down to see and hear my my song and worship. I was worshiping like he wasn't in the room. This may seem to you to be a discovery of an elementary level fact but to me this was earth shaking. I felt like sharing it with you. And now I have.

Going, Going, Gone

Have you ever said something and reached out with your hands as if to get it back? I have. Some say that talk is cheap and though it comes free, it leaves with a price ..... a hefty price. Words go silent in an instant, but, good or bad, they can stick around for a lifetime.... and I don't know about you, but there are precious few times that I remember that before I speak. Pretty much everyone has that nagging comment in the back of their mind where someone said something and it just won't go away. Whether they said it out of fun or said it out of spite it reamins there. Do you ever think how many of said nagging comments you could have or have authored? How awful would it be to find out someday that something that you said became a leach to someone. Or worse yet, having a comment that you made something that the devil could use to as a stumbling block? Of course that gets into this "somone" learning to get over the words of man, but to be perfectly honest, I myself don't want anything that I do to be avenue for the devil to get in someone's way. I want it to be the exact opposite, and I'm sure that that is the opinion of most people. Words can do so much; I don't think that we realize the responsibilty that should be required of us when we speak.

Do you ever think about where our words go? Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about sound waves, so I can tell you right now that there is no validation to the thought that I am about to voice. Perhaps this thought is formulated out of ignorance nonetheless, it still gives cause for thought. What if the words that we spoke never disappeared? What if the sound waves of our words just kept going? What if ,though they became inaudible, they still had existence? I'm not trying to be some pseudo deep philosopher that is throwing out empty ideas in colorful packages for the benefit of my ego. All I'm doing, is simply writing down my thoughts, and of which you may take or leave, or stand indifferent. Honestly I'm not even trying to change your mind. I'm just sharing portions of what's in my head.

Can I Have The Definition, Please?

I am a huge fan of words. I love them. I like to use words in conversation that people don't really use all the time. I enjoy saying words that sound cool rolling off my tounge. I love adding words to a sentence that make it more poetic than just the Plain Jane get the point across statement. But several months ago I started to stop myself when I would use certian words and ask myself...what does that really mean? I'm not talking about a foriegn word or some word that is so obscure that it might as well be foriegn that people will add to thier conversation to show off an extensive vocabulary, but rather simple mundain words that one uses all the time. Words like "beauty"... what does beauty really mean? Define it. I have a really hard time with it, and maybe that is just me. So I'll sit there and just meditate on that word; thinking about all the possible definitions , trying to sift it down to it's core meaning. Honestly it's been the worst in praise and worship. The other day we kept repeating the lines "King of Glory, have Your glory", and I just got to thinking.... what is Glory really? Define it. (suprise, suprise I couldn't) I mean, I know the word glory. I know that it's a noun, I know how to spell it, and I know how to use it in a sentence correctly.... but to define....I can't. Even after I consulted my good friend Webster I was still unsatisfied that I truely knew what glory meant. So I just sit and meditate on that word. The same has happened with love, fear, beauty, and the list goes on. I don't want to let my nerd show here, but honestly words are sooooo deep. They are more than just letters, they are a meaning, they are a something. I don't know...it just makes me love words all the more.

Could I repeat that for me?

I must confess that I talk to myself on a regular basis. I know that it is the popular belief that this qualifies one as crazy but I assure you that I am not. Quite on the contrary, I talk to myself in order to keep from going crazy. I have a bad tendency to unknowingly overthink things, and left to myself I will take something small and in silence blow it completely out of proportion. It is not until I say things out loud that I realize how ridiculous I am being or often times I will say something out loud and something that has vexed me for so long will become crystal clear once it is made audible. It just amazes me the difference it makes simply hearing yourself say what you are thinking. Interesting, no?

Not By the Hair On My Chiny Chin Chin

How do you let someone into your world? Trusting them with things that you've kept guarded for your whole life? How can you rely on someone else when up to this point you've relied souly upon yourself? I've been asking myself these along with countless other questions of a similar nature. I tend to keep to myself and I guess I assumed that most people were like me (that's what I get for assuming). Turns out I am rather singular in this area. I thought that people got upset with you for for getting into their business; I never really gave thought to someone being upset about not letting them in on your business, and yet here I am. I'm not talking about a busybody, I'm talking about someone that you have every reason to trust and who is only pushing in order to help.

I find myself at a loss to explain my viewpoint... mostly because I am so confused. I think that there are just two different perceptions on what I'm doing. I've never been open with anyone, and when I say that I mean ANYONE. I'm the kind of person that will only ask for help if my back is against the wall and I've tried everything under the sun to resolve it but, to no avail. In which case it seems to me to be slightly absurd or at the very least abrupt to do a 180 and become a Chatty Kathy. This is new to me. It's like never swimming before but jumping into the deep end of the pool with out floaties. There is a certian way that I have become accustomed to and comfortable with dealing with issues that come my way. I'm not saying it is the right way, I'm just saying that it's what I have always done and it is what I am familiar with, and so far it has seemed to work for me. Which leads me to ask why change?

However I must say that looking from their viewpoint I can see why the feel the way that they feel. If you were used to being opened up to and open yourself and you come acrossed an individual who plays their cards uncommonly close to their chest, then you might feel that they were keeping something from you. And since you are used to people being open you might also assume that it would have to be something big that would cause them to react the way that they do (which in reality is not the case).

I admit that a week ago I would have been convinced that doing things the way that I always have was the best way, but now that this new way of doing things has been presented I must say that I am not so sure any more. Maybe being more open with people that you know you can trust is better. But is it possible to just start being open? I know that seems ridiculous to say but honestly I don't know how else to put it; that's exactally where I'm at... I mean what if I do change and find out it was a mistake? Then what do I do? Once you let someone in, you can't really get them out. I just don't want to open the door and find out it's the big bad wolf dressed up as my friend from down the road. But if I don't open that door could I be missing out on something that is beautiful?

Just a Breath

My newest fascination is breathing. There is so much more to it than just simply sustaining life, not that that should by any means be taken lightly. I have always found body language to be an interesting thing to look at, but if you think about it, there is alot of that same science in breathing. Sighing for example, almost seems sometimes to be an involuntary reflex. It can be a sign of frustration, a sign that one has had enough, or, on the opposite side of spectrum, that that particular individual is lost in a moment of complete bliss. When you are nervous, excited, or scared you tend to breath faster. then there are moments that you are suprised or caught off guard and, try though you may, you can't breathe. Other times, though you are perfectly capable of doing so, you choose not to breathe for a moment or two. Might I be so bold as to include laughing and screaming in this same subject, though I am well aware that there is a good case for them to be treated as seperate institutions. I wish that you would indulge me on this and just accept it for now. When we are filled with joy to the point where it starts to overflow we laugh (though I find this to be a curious thing that deserves a closer look, I will save it for another time). Laughing when broken down to it's simplest form is our body gasping for air. Though I do not know all of the biological factors that are attributed to this, I figure it's your body's way of telling you "I know you're happy, but breathe, Stupid!" Or before you let out a scream you take in the biggest breathe that could possibly occupy your lungs and then push it out, and it is my belief that the vocal cords become involved only because they are present.

There is someting calming and peaceful about listening to another breathe; very similar to listening to another's heart beat. Babies fall asleep to the sound of both on a regular basis. It could just simply be that it is a rhythmic sound, like that of a rocking chair, but I'd like to think that it's that connection that you feel with that person. (so please do not rain on my parade with your scientific facts, I rather like viewing it this and wish to continue doing so) And when you really think about it is such an incredible thing. You are listening to them sustain life.....how awe inspiring is that?

Of course being a hopeless romantic, I felt that I should end this post with, the classic line "You took my breath away." It's fun to just sit and ponder about that alone.