AnonymousJune 13, 2013 at 8:01 AM
Your blogs make me laugh and cry! Why?
I don't get many commenting visitors, here, while Playing in the Last Quarter. In my offline world? Mostly people who occasion my office and grandchildren. But yesterday "anonymous" dropped in to say that my writing makes them "laugh and cry." That pithy comment clarified much for me. The psychologists identify many emotions ... some, the Big Five. I forget what they are in part, I think, due to my sense that there are two central ones ... Anonymous identifies them as laughing and crying ... I usually think of them as glee and sadness but the verbs work better for me. Thanks.
I've talked about this, before, but it bears thinking about it, again. Dogs are, in my experience, better at it than we people-folk. I remember one of my St. Bernards, Schreber. He was a big fella and stood about two inches taller than I when on his hind legs. On Tuesdays and Thursdays -- maybe in the early 80's -- I'd come home at 9:00 and Schreber would get all happy and excited ... front paws on my shoulders, tale wagging, tongue lapping my face. Dogs know how to be happy. When I'd leave, he'd retreat to his couch ... well, it was actually a family couch but Schreber did a good job of occupying it -- his demeanor would be different ... tail drooping .... not a Swiss yodel seen on his face. "Why are you leaving me? We could go out and play ball. We could eat a turkey, together ... I'd share ... promise ... I promise."
I don't know whether it's reasonable but it is my belief that folk who learn early in life how to juggle glee and sadness ... how to feel them both intensely .... continue to welcome both the hello's and the good-bye's that dominate the Last Quarter.
Hey, Anonymous! May you continue laughing and crying, as Jack Kennedy might have said, WITH VIGOR!
Thanks for sayin' 'hello' ... Adios!
In my next life I want to be your dog!
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