Love and Loyalty—MIA

“Tush!” The stage is set for violence and betrayal. “‘Sblood,” the path is cleared for disloyalty and corruption. While a bedchamber may seem far from a battlefield, in Venice’s lascivious streets and Cyprus' blood-drenched banks, all is fair in love and war. Iago’s spiraling jealously weaves the web that holds the lover's captive.

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Insert Cliché Here

Love is… I feel like such a fool. I’m so small inside of it. I can’t even imagine how big it is, or at least how big it ought to be. The only thing that I am just now beginning to understand is my own love. For him. I feel small inside of my own love. My own small love, which shapes every small moment, which shape my small life. But love, my love, makes that small life whole. It fills it up. To its full capacity. It has to.

The way I ____ love. Feel. Express. Perceive. Live in. It’s not through some societal filter, Hallmark distortion, Cosmo manipulation, childhood idealization. It’s solid. And intangible. Secure and spontaneous. Expanding and enveloping. Clear and…confounding.

And I realize that I am living in a complete mystery.

With my soul mate.

Achilles' Choice

Dorothy Nix sat across from me this morning, shuffling index cards in her lap. World War II veteran, journalist, mother, grandmother, and widow. She spoke from memories, reliving each moment—eighty-six years’ worth of moments. She said that now, more than at any other stage in her life, she has time to reflect, that she draws from her well-tested faith, from so many sorrows and joys, to give herself peace and understanding.

Understanding of this world only comes when one has lived long in it. I would rather be wise to the world than famous to it.

The Ten Things

1. Journal and pens
sanity
2. Necklace
sentiment
3. Folding knife
utility
4. Photo book
memory
5. Camera
preservation
6. Stationary
connection
7. Playing cards
distraction
8. Pistol
protection
9. Gauze
precaution
10. Pocket calendar
hope