"We're getting there" - or - I really don't know love at all, but I know I could drink a case of you--*

There are a couple of things I keep reminding myself: that everyone has something that I won't like, and that each new relationship or friendship requires to succeed the trust that events and feelings that remind us of older, bad experiences in the past are not necessarily a harbinger of doom this time.

A certain point exists for us where the way we look at love is no longer the same. For some of us, a horrible experience triggers us to look at the other side. For others, it is a beautiful life of light and openness. For still others, a chance meeting and whirlwind weekend romance with no future reminds us of what we deserve to receive.

Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows.

Paolo Coelho

There will always be something about every person that I don't like.
Simple?

Is it always the same quality(s) or trait(s) that become(s) an issue? Or are certain things acceptable in some and intolerable in other relationships? When does one situation or issue become a 'dealbreaker' and when does a person or relationship become a throwaway? What is it that makes One person special enough to work through and wait for understanding?

I laugh at myself when I realize that I handle my relationships with humans is diametrically opposite to my relationships with horses. If a mare throws me to the ground, I won't hesitate to keep working with her and work through the issues to create growth, strength as a team, and understanding...it would never occur to me to never again handle a bay Thoroughbred mare under any circumstances.

I used to be a person who always welcomed love and never saw the shadows. It's only recently that something clicked and I've seen different sides of love, different hues of light, and myself. Because I'm more comfortable with me, I find myself calm where always in the past I would be a hellcat, wasting energy and missing the point.

With a different point of view in mind, the only way we can really know anything is when there are no dealbreakers, but only 'things that are part of you'.


Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell (2000)

Other days I just laugh all day, because that's what crazy people do.

I took the sweet life and never knew I'd be bitter...

Never Been to Me - Charlene

On getting caught in the rain...

I'm walking home from the coffee shop and 'surprise'--total downpour. Wearing an unfortunate choice of shirt for the change in weather, I decide the only thing to do is walk confidently down the street, head up, as if it were a gorgeous sunny day. I am not the only person caught in the rain this morning, but my fellow pedestrians are sour-faced and hunched over. People actually look at me like I might be crazy for seeming to enjoy the morning nonetheless!

I've been working on this concept in broader areas of my life...working with what I've got, trying not to accumulate dings in the armour, 'come what may'... Sometimes it means humming to myself when I am tempted to quit my job on the spot so I can just leave the chaos, sometimes it means being much more 'real' than usual and exposing more of myself than I'd like, but always it means shoulders back and head held high through it all.

Florida Gopher Tortoise, our vulnerable friend

The Florida Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, is listed as 'vulnerable' by the Threatened and Endangered Species System. Recently, on an extended trip to Southwest Florida, I became acquainted with these stoic, marvelous animals.

Often you will see the adult members of the species out for a stroll on a sun-baked country road, and untold numbers of times I stopped my car on my way to my friend's horse farm to redirect a tortoise to a safer side of the road. This particular shelled friend had an affinity for one of the grooming stations at my friend's horse farm. On more than one occasion I would be working at the station when he would come over to say 'Hi!'

(That's him waving hello...subtle, isn't it?)

Though a herbivorous species, the extreme irritation displayed by the Florida Gopher Tortoise when you try to pick them up and move them to safety can be intimidating. They hiss loudly and blow frothy bubbles. Unless it is of paramount importance to move a tortoise, it's probably best to let them leave on their own.

Several factors contribute to the vulnerable status of these animals -- aside from human predation and carelessness, many animal predators exist: raccoons, armadillos, skunks, snakes, dogs (though we should probably class dogs as human carelessness), and fire ants. Human incidences include road mortality and construction site bulldozing in habitat areas. It is illegal to move a gopher tortoise from its habitat, but faced with burrowing tortoises in a home foundation, many homeowners resort to moving their underground neighbors in the middle of the night to what they deem may be a suitable new home.

We look to the future for these and many, many other animals on the list.

I have kept the text here simple in hopes that interested readers will look into the plight of the Florida Gopher Tortoise on their own, so here I am including some resources: The Gopher Tortoise Council, The Gopher Tortoise Organization, and an excellent article on the management of the Gopher Tortoise habitat on private property.