Love Lists

I know this looks like long, boring reading but... I thought I would share with you a glimpse of who I really am by creating a love list. Take the time to read this whenever you want. Feel free to write your own love list and add it to the comment section.

I love summer mornings when the fog’s setting in ∙ I love the damp smell of rotting leaves in the last brisk days of autumn before winter takes her turn ∙ I love sidewalk chalk ∙ I love wet doggy kisses and warm puppy breath ∙ I love the wide rivers that bring Tom and Huck to mind every time ∙ I love the smell of spring rains on warm sidewalks ∙ I love amazingly cool words like: serendipity and tableau ∙ I love the depth of color in a rainbow ∙ I love the music of distant ice cream trucks on summer evenings ∙ I love lazy cold days in baggy sweatshirt and thick socks ∙ I love coca-cola on ice cream and potato chip crumbs that stick to your fingers ∙ I love the first day of a long holiday break ∙ I love the irony of snowflakes’ miraculous singularity getting lost in white sameness ∙ I love cold sheets in the summer and warm blankets on a frigid eve ∙ I love the last moments of dusk and the darkest dark right before dawn ∙ I love French accents ∙ I love to unplug the phone and take off my watch and not have it matter ∙ I love the surreal silence of still, snowy nights ∙ I love sun’s warmth on skin and moon’s light on calm water ∙ I love the stories that aged hands tell ∙ I love the thick perfume of incense in church and the soft surprise of lilacs caught on spring’s breath ∙ I love quick wit - I love real woods-found mushrooms on medium-cooked steak ∙ I love to wash all the way to my elbows after I’ve worked in the yard - I love pants with surprise money in the pockets ∙ I love to watch unsuspecting others truly being themselves ∙ I love to sing at the top of my lungs to the delight of a stone-deaf, pretend audience ∙ I love seeing one’s unexpected personality show up when I tour their home for the first time - I love to draw in the margins ∙ I love to see someone I haven’t for a long time and feel their bear hug embrace – I love people who make eye-contact when I’m talking to them – I love to melt butter before I put it on toast with sinful amounts of sugar and cinnamon ∙ I love to think about my niece, Megan, and wonder who she’d be today - I love stone walls with creeping ivy ∙ I love children’s books that provide an unsuspecting tear - I love long hot baths on cold winter nights with only a candle lit ∙ I love to find simple answers to complex questions ∙ I love to break character in front of my students ∙ I love to perform a cannonball off of the diving board - I love to eat a whole bag of salt & vinegar kettle chips ∙ I love our flag – I love to watch a young child sing our national anthem ∙ I love fishing on breezy banks and not catching a thing because what would I do with it anyway ∙ I love Frosty and Rudolph and Burl Ives’ voice ∙ I love cereal before bed ∙ I love walking around a college campus and pretending that I’m still a student ∙ I love spreading ketchup from the ketchup packets on McDonald’s fries one fry at a time - I love to nibble on the juicy end of a long weed ∙ I love to watch my student’s faces when they see Boo Radley for the first time - I love reading gossip magazines when I’m supposed to be grading homework ∙ I love to go to bed early, read too long, and fall asleep too late ∙ I love to eat hot dogs with mustard and relish at evening baseball games ∙ I love the smell of football – I love Fair food ∙ I love Woody from Toy Story ∙ I love to walk alone at night ∙ I love caramel apples at amusement parks ∙ I love to watch animals in nature and imagine what it must be like to be them instead of me ∙ I love sheets on my bed that have been hung out on the line ∙ I love mint chocolate chip ice-cream ∙ I love to wear baseball caps ∙ I love to sit by creeks and watch the water swirl around fallen tree limbs ∙ I love to shop for things I don’t need - I love rainy mornings when I can lie in bed and listen to the thunder ∙ I love bon fires on beaches ∙ I love small candles lit in my room ∙ I love to watch ants carry their weight and more, unaware of my human amazement - I love Wisconsin birch bark trees ∙ I love stained glass ∙ I love orange and purple sunsets painted across calm skies ∙ I love book stores that sell coffee ∙ I love planting spring flowers in warm dirt ∙ I love orangeish-yellowish-reddish leaves ∙ I love church bells ringing over the city ∙ I love old cemeteries and the mysteries they bring to mind ∙ I love to peep through holes in fences ∙ I love to lie on my back and watch the stars and feel like I’m falling because it’s so grand ∙ I love sun tea ∙ I love my mom’s cinnamon candy at Christmas ∙ I love the warmth of a fire and the peaceful reach of its glow ∙ I love pretty smells in my bath ∙ I love hot tea with lemony honey on bitter nights ∙ I love snow when it sticks to trees and electric lines and stacks up on mailboxes ∙ I love to sit in the dark except for a glimmer of light from a candle, a fireplace or twinkling Christmas lights ∙ I love homemade salsa and lime tortilla chips ∙ I love the excitement and mystery of wrapped gifts under a tree ∙ I love the stars on clear winter nights when it’s too cold to be out and my nose hairs freeze ∙ I love covered bridges ∙ I love to amuse myself even when others don’t see what’s so amusing ∙ I love to drive alone in the evening or at night, windows down, music blaring ∙ I love when I finally find the time to be neat and organized, especially to the point that others become annoyed ∙ I love rearranging furniture and freshly washed woodwork ∙ I love when my mom, my sister and I laugh so hard that we wet our pants - I love the apples and Indian corn and pumpkins and cider on a Fall day when I can still wear shorts but I almost need a sweater ∙ I love my husband when he’s loving our kids - I love friends, family . . . and God above all.