I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da and here I am
The only living boy in New YorkHalf of the time we’re gone but we don’t know where,
And we don’t know here.
—Simon and Garfunkle, The Only Living Boy in New York
Every day, we get caught up in our lives.
We adopt pets to give us a sense of family. We eat breakfast at work or in the car to save ourselves time so we can work some more. We scorn those who express emotion, we avoid eye contact with strangers on the street.
Everything we do — the food we eat, the movies we watch, the home team we cheer for, our coffee shop romances — they’re just trying to fill that hole, that gap that’s missing, the only way we feel alive.
We don’t slow down, we don’t figure things out. We don’t reflect and appreciate what we have.
Like strawberry cheesecake ice cream with a thick graham cracker swirl. Like the serenity of the snow that falls around us, when heaven decides to bless the earth.
Life gets in the way of living.
And now I realize just how guilty I’ve been of this. I’ve been looking for love, but never recognized it when I found it. All I ever wanted to do was lie in bed, look into your eyes, and go through my favourite albums with you. But I never did. And now I wonder. Why can’t we just live? We can’t we just love?
Sometimes you have to stop. You can’t capture everything. You need to throw yourself in.
A thousand kisses deep.
Been quietly reading for awhile. You know, firewall, work, etc.
1. Love the photographs. I love how close, how detailed, how incredibly honest your photos are.
2. This days post was melancholy and hopeful and romantic in one go. It made me feel warm and slightly salty, like I had been awash in tears for a bit.
3. Despite your lack of confidence, I am confident that people’s hopes and confidence in you will eventually instill this sense of active accomplishment in yourself… I look at what you do, and how you do it, and I am simply amazed by how talented, intelligent, sensitive, sapient and sentient, you are. You give me hope that one day I might attain these qualities, and only be half as inspired and creative as you are. I enjoy reading the things you say, because the give me the sense that I am not alone, that I will do great things with myself, and I am not half as droll as I think I am. And I thank you for the hope you give me.
I believe you will achieve (already are achieving) great things in this life, and in the next.
4. I love the title of this article. It makes me want to crawl into covers and sleep with my lips against the nape of N’s neck.
I was going to say how much I am comforted by your … um.…..what would you say?. hedonism.? And then decided I was going to change that to “luxuriating in the small poetic joys of life.” …somewhat of a combination, I suppose. And then there’s the uncommon mood of stillness in you that I love.
I’ve really never managed to find a male who thought (or perhaps spoke) these things in quite this way except you.
Damn. Why weren’t/aren’t there more such as you?
@maeko — Thank you very much for your comment. Your words encourage me to keep going, whether it’s in words, photos, or otherwise.
The title is actually from one of my favourite Leonard Cohen songs. Wonderful stories could be weaved from his clever titles and lyrics.
@Xibee — Guys like me are endangered cause we finish last. But it’s somewhat necessary. Otherwise, we wouldn’t appreciate what we’ve lost/never had and we’d never learn to feel this way.
Beautiful realisation.
It made me think about something that was lingering on my mind after the loss of my dad: “to constantly question life is almost like not living your life at all, even though, simply living life limits the possibilities that life itself holds”. I dont know if it makes sense to anyone else but me, but I thought I should share it with you anyway.
That makes perfect sense, Em. On a contrary note, Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not a life worth living”. I suppose it’s a fine balance we need to find for ourselves.