Thanks for all the contributions yesterday. Michelle and I had a nice evening with Sean on our anniversary. After 19 years and everything else we’ve been through, I think we realize at this point that sometimes it’s just nice to be in the same room together at the same time, nothing fancy, just some time together. Which, in a way, leads me into my answer to yesterday’s question of:

Can you sum up what loves mean to you in one sentence?

I thought a lot about this and how the best way to answer would be for me. In a way, Katie Couric’s response to my question I think is pretty tight on. I went through a lot of versions of this but this seems to be the best one, I think and it’s the simplest way I can put it:

Love is a gift.

Now let me explain what I think that means. In my opinion, love truly is a gift. It’s not only a gift given to you  by someone, whether it is a parent, a child, a lover, a spouse or a friend but something you can give to some else as well. To me, it’s probably the best thing you can give or receive. It makes you feel like nothing else in the world – happy, proud,ecstatic,excited – all at that same time. It gets your emotions churning in ways you never knew it could before, and that’s a good thing. When someone tells you they love you, the feeling you get from that is almost indescribable. I have a friend who only talk to once or twice a year. She’s a dear friend and she gave me some good advice many times, but in particular she said this to me: make sure you always tell the people who are important to you that you love them. End every day or conversation with that, because you never know if you are going to get the opportunity to tell them that again, and it’s important that they know how much they mean to you. I agree with that, and love is such a gift that you should be willing to share it with those that are important to you. Every morning, Sean tells me he loves me when he gets out of the car to go to school and that just makes me feel so special and incredible that all the little things don’t matter. He gives me that gift every day and you have no idea how great I think it is that at 11 years old he is still willing to say that to his parents. Every morning when Michelle leaves we say it to each other and end every phone call that way. Life’s too precious not to share that.

The illness I had and still carry with me has had a big effect on me, of course, in my daily life but also in the way I approach my relationships with family, friends and other people in general, and in a way, I think it effects the way I see love as a gift. I honestly believe that it is all the love I felt from everyone and from God that helped to save me. I think there is no doubt about that. I have heard the stories of all the people praying for me all over the country, of people praying in my room and praying with Michelle and the love that was generated from all that was an incredible gift that was given to me, one that I don’t think I can ever re-pay to everyone. The only wat I can think of to give back is with love, and sharing that feeling, this gift, that I have been given. Now I know it sounds kind of sappy, but that’s okay, you can think of me that way if you want to, I have no problem with that. But when you think about love, or you get the feeling of love yourself, don’t you want to share that feeling with other people? it makes you feel so good that you want everyone to experience it. Isn’t that why we invite others to wedding ceremonies (besides that fact that you need a new toaster or vase?), so that we can share this gift with those that are close to us? That’s what it means to me anyway.

Thank you again to everyone who answered, and a special thank you to Katie Couric for taking the time to answer me. So let’s move on to today’s question, which just kind of came to this morning. I had planned to ask about something completely different today, but this one came to me instead:

What was the first thing to make you smile today?

Even if you are having a really crappy day, something happened along the way this morning to make you smile at some point, admit it. So what was it? It could be something really simple like the water was hot when you got in the shower, or your spouse made you a cup of coffee when you really needed it, or the dog jumped up and licked your face because he was happy to see you (that did happen to me this morning, but it wasn’t the first thing that made me smile). Whatever it happens to be, think about it and let me know. you can answer on here, or on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll also pose the question to some people on Twitter and see if they respond. I’ll post my answer tomorrow.

I guess that’s it for right now. I’ve got a bunch of ideas floating around in my head for different things that I need to write down before I forget them. If you ever have anything you want to contribute, a story, poem, song, a question or just anything at all, please feel free to leave a comment or drop me a note at IguanaFlats@msn.com. I hope you have a great day and don’t forget to do something creative today!