It's not so much that love misleads. Rather, I believe we find it difficult to follow the path at times. We are complex as individuals....rife with the good and not-so-good qualities...that define us. When you add another individual you add further complexity...almost a geometric progression. Then, perhaps over time you experience relationships that leave their marks. So, maybe you become more cautious...more guarded...more suspicious. Our lives are hundreds of overlays of events and emotions...of learned and involuntary responses that make us both vulnerable and bold. All very natural, just the mind's way of protecting the heart! No one has the answer for all of us. If so, we'd all be happy at the same time! Consider yourself fortunate if you have the answer for you...and the one you love! Maybe love IS a constant path that we simply have difficulty navigating because we are who we are...human...people who make mistakes sometimes and get it right sometimes. Maybe it takes every fiber of what we are to sort things out and stay on the path...and still a measure of luck, too. Like most of us...I'm trying. Right now, that path seems so obvious for me and the one I love. At least we know there are twists and turns. Still, I wouldn't want it any other way...the pain is worth the gain.

Well, this has got to piss off all those people who insist the world comes to an end on 12/12/2012! Good Lord willing, I'll be traveling...between US and Italy...and wherever my heart leads me.

My man, you're like a reliable truck...good for another few hundred thousand miles! Keep getting the oil changes!

You can survive a broken heart. No, it’s not easy. In fact, it damn near brought me to my knees...and I’ve seen combat and been in some tough spots over the years. Some wag once said, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Maybe. But, I’ve seen it harden people, as well. For better or worse, that’s not me. I’m an incurable romantic...no apologies. The woman who broke my heart a year and a half ago called last week....out of the blue. We talked for a long time. We’ve talked every day since...often more than once. We email, text and tweet, too. She’s 1,287 miles away...but much closer in my heart. As you can see...she is beautiful. She’s smart...a Ph. D. in economics. She inspired me in so many ways. I lost 59 pounds...and now weigh the same as when I played college ball! She is my muse...inspiring a book...and now a screenplay. We lived together for two years...and just days from giving her a diamond ring...we broke up. She loves me still, she said yesterday. I can’t lie, she’s never been far from my thoughts or heart. We were soul mates...a term only a fool bothers to debate...because only those who experience it know it. Everything we did...we did with passion. It was exquisite. We both lived more in those two years than some do in a life time. But we came undone because of human frailties. As Shakespeare warned, “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves...” We were unwilling to address an elephant in the room...a problem that doesn’t go away on its own. With wisdom, we discover, you can’t change people. But people CAN change. It has to come from within...and it’s not easy. Perhaps more fail than succeed. I do not know. But, I do know my heart is light again....for the first time in a long time. All my senses are sharper in the past few days. I hear songs that we used to dance to...that played as we made love. Foods taste better. Smells are sweeter. We are going to meet in Atlanta. A line of dialogue from Shawshank Redemption - a favorite movie - keeps playing in my mind. It captures exactly how I feel now...and probably how I will feel when I see her at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport at 3:35 P.M. next Tuesday: “I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain...I hope.” My plea to her a year and a half ago...included in my profile...has found her heart. Everyone should know this joy.

Well, that's a great gift...I have collected the works of young artists for 35 years...(I have great appreciation for art but the talent of a fourth grade finger painter)...the people on your list are blessed, indeed.

I start shopping the day after Thanksgiving...and look for unique gifts for special friends and family.
And, I donate as I have done for years to the Heifer International Foundation, buying goats and cows and laying hens for people all over the world. See www.heifer.org

Ain't love grand! Even the possibility of it....

Hey, a two-for-one deal on salad greens at Whole Foods!

A three-banana dance...can you imagine if had been something BIG?

Hey, what's your problem, mate..It worked fine in Australia!

Gee...funny how that works, eh. And you with all that goat experience...what a waste!

Really, it doesn't affect me whether others like marriage or not...think it means or doesn't mean something. Tolerance is a good thing. If one or the other works for you and the one you're with..if you are with someone...that's pretty much all that matters. I was married once for 35 years. I would neither base nor discount another marriage on that one. Some issues are simply personal...between the only two people who matter in this case. There is not just one route to happiness!

Welcome...good luck and enjoy! 123 from Germany to Tennessee, eh? Must be a Nashville country song writer!

make a difference - large or small - in someone else's life!

Does anyone ever get cravings for certain foods when you're up late? I mean, sometimes I get in a mood for breakfast at 2 or 3 in the morning. So, there I am making buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, maybe some fresh strawberries or bananas macerated with Creme de Fraise...some bacon, an egg, fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee...

I am an inveterate late-nighter. So, this is my time...usually write or read, occasionally an old movie.
Sometimes, even Mingle! Typically, go to bed about 2 A.M. to 3 A.M....and get up about
about 9 A.M. But, when I go to bed...I sleep well.

Yeah, what happened to those beautiful names like...Gertrude, Hortense, Bertha, Matilda, Greta...or Seymour, Otto, Clyde, Wilbur...Hmmmmmm...All of a sudden Peanut doesn't sound too bad.

That and more... But, you know...you can always re-build...and I did!

My partner once cleaned me out! It was a surprise, too!

Hey, every once in a while...I do just that...our secret, ok?

I am not...but I'll defend to my death...your right to be one! Well, I'd take a a pretty good shot in the chops. Well, a punch on the arm, anyway. Well, I'd endure a really menacing glower (if they were smaller than me) Aw, hell...you're on your own!

Yes and No?