There are a lot of people who reeeeeaaaaallly don't like Valentine's Day. I mean people who are single and people who are in relationships don't like it. I totally get it. I think it's one of those many holidays that we all put too much pressure on. New Year's Eve and Halloween are two good ones as well. There's a lot of pressure to look like you're having the best time possible at the coolest place possible and have the pictures posted to prove it. I guess at Valentine's Day you're supposed to look like you have the best relationship ever or if you're single, then you're the most well-adjusted about it. Either way, once again, pressure.
Lots of things are considered too vague or esoteric to be quantified. They involve a certain amount navel-gazing and flights of fancy that most of us don't have time for. The beauty of a so-called masterpiece hanging in a gallery. The exact color of the sky right before sunset. The diner with the most perfect cheese fries.
And then there are the bigger questions. Am I really satisfied? Did I do everything I could to fix it? Was that the right choice? Is this all there is?
Pop in a few words to end each of those sentences (with my job, with my parenting, with my marriage, with my life) and you pretty much have life's big questions in a tidy little package.
And these are the biggies, aren't they? And how do you really answer those questions with quick quantifying submissions? I'm happy 79% with my life? I love my partner a full 97%? I think I do a good job with my kids about 86% of the time? Nobody is gonna do that, nor should they try.
But I do believe love, one of the biggest questions of all, can actually be quantified. Yes, me, probably the worst mathematician and scientific thinker you know has this aaaaaallll figured out!
You know how you'll be stuck somewhere sometimes and can get anything really good to eat? Like you can't leave your desk or you're on a long car trip with no stops or you're just too lazy to go to the Food Lion? And you aren't just hungry, you are HONGRAY. You will eat pretty much anything you can lay your hands on. Usually it's some sort of convenience food like Lance Crackers or an old can of Vienna Sausages. And when you eat them, being as starved as you were, you will be all like "Damn! Those were the best damn crackers ever!"
That shitty little snack will fulfill you so much that you might even make a regular meal out of it. In a time that you thought you were starving, they fed you, and now you can't get enough. Stale Lance Crackers and god-knows-what's-in-it Vienna Sausages will become the loves of your life.
And then one day, you will get a taste of a scrumptious plate of pasta primavera. Or a big juicy cut of prime rib. Or a luscious dripping piece of melon. You will put your face so far up in it you won't even know it's daylight. You will eat until your heart is content. And when you're done, you won't be just full. You will be satisfied. You will be content. You will wonder how you ever lived on crackers and canned sausage. You might even be mad at yourself for eating it for as long as you did. You will decide that no matter what happens to you for the rest of your life, you will never exist on crackers and sausage again. You will find a way to get the pasta, the prime rib and the melon. You are worth it. You will have it.
Now.
Don't tell me love can't be quantified.
If you think this was just about food, go and pin some recipes to your Pinterest. If you understand the bigger picture I'm getting at (and since you're reading this blog, you must be pretty smart!) go out and do something about it. Only you know what that is. But go and do it.
Now, my advice if you want to take it is this, go out there and get your pasta, your steak and your melon. Get it with your friends, your partner, your kids or your family. Get it. Don't eat it alone.
And don't eat crackers with anyone and tell yourself it's steak. It's not. You know it. You deserve the steak.
Lots of things are considered too vague or esoteric to be quantified. They involve a certain amount navel-gazing and flights of fancy that most of us don't have time for. The beauty of a so-called masterpiece hanging in a gallery. The exact color of the sky right before sunset. The diner with the most perfect cheese fries.
And then there are the bigger questions. Am I really satisfied? Did I do everything I could to fix it? Was that the right choice? Is this all there is?
Pop in a few words to end each of those sentences (with my job, with my parenting, with my marriage, with my life) and you pretty much have life's big questions in a tidy little package.
And these are the biggies, aren't they? And how do you really answer those questions with quick quantifying submissions? I'm happy 79% with my life? I love my partner a full 97%? I think I do a good job with my kids about 86% of the time? Nobody is gonna do that, nor should they try.
But I do believe love, one of the biggest questions of all, can actually be quantified. Yes, me, probably the worst mathematician and scientific thinker you know has this aaaaaallll figured out!
You know how you'll be stuck somewhere sometimes and can get anything really good to eat? Like you can't leave your desk or you're on a long car trip with no stops or you're just too lazy to go to the Food Lion? And you aren't just hungry, you are HONGRAY. You will eat pretty much anything you can lay your hands on. Usually it's some sort of convenience food like Lance Crackers or an old can of Vienna Sausages. And when you eat them, being as starved as you were, you will be all like "Damn! Those were the best damn crackers ever!"
That shitty little snack will fulfill you so much that you might even make a regular meal out of it. In a time that you thought you were starving, they fed you, and now you can't get enough. Stale Lance Crackers and god-knows-what's-in-it Vienna Sausages will become the loves of your life.
And then one day, you will get a taste of a scrumptious plate of pasta primavera. Or a big juicy cut of prime rib. Or a luscious dripping piece of melon. You will put your face so far up in it you won't even know it's daylight. You will eat until your heart is content. And when you're done, you won't be just full. You will be satisfied. You will be content. You will wonder how you ever lived on crackers and canned sausage. You might even be mad at yourself for eating it for as long as you did. You will decide that no matter what happens to you for the rest of your life, you will never exist on crackers and sausage again. You will find a way to get the pasta, the prime rib and the melon. You are worth it. You will have it.
Now.
Don't tell me love can't be quantified.
If you think this was just about food, go and pin some recipes to your Pinterest. If you understand the bigger picture I'm getting at (and since you're reading this blog, you must be pretty smart!) go out and do something about it. Only you know what that is. But go and do it.
Now, my advice if you want to take it is this, go out there and get your pasta, your steak and your melon. Get it with your friends, your partner, your kids or your family. Get it. Don't eat it alone.
And don't eat crackers with anyone and tell yourself it's steak. It's not. You know it. You deserve the steak.