a valentine greeting

this is the best valentine i think i've ever gotten. i had to share. (penned by the always eloquent linford detweiler and karin bergquist)

Hello young lovers wherever you are,

Hello not-so-young lovers with hearts fixed on the prize of growing
older together, one day at a time, come what may,

Hello to those flying solo, learning to love just the feel of being
human,

Hello to those head over heels in a tangle of a wrecked bed, blurring
ego boundaries with an eager protagonist, drunk on it,

Hello to those who could never live with another human being and are
okay with that knowledge (Fran Lebowitz),

Hello to those married with young children, running their domestic
marathon,

Hello to those in love with the sky only, the very breathable air,
restlessly content with this earthly mix of sometimes joy, sometimes
longing, sometimes loneliness, sometimes surprising laughter,

Hello to those in love with the whole human predicament,

Hello to the broke, the well-heeled, the lucky, the lost, the quiet,
the gifted, the empty-handed, the adopted, the beginners, the almost
finished, the starting over, the music makers, and those with the gift
of hearing and receiving the music,

Hello.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day to you all.

since it seems i haven't been able to find the words to say on here for quite awhile, i thought i'd let someone else speak them for me. i hope you found them enjoyable.

my valentine's evening was spent with three girls i started on a spiritual journey with last fall. we decided to continue it this month and next, and while we have no idea where exactly it will lead us, it's going to be an interesting and challenging path. i don't know why we have to resort to a book in order to even start to figure out how relationships and community work, but here we are. and we're diving in. it could get ugly. but hopefully it will also get us somewhere other than where we are right now, stuck in hibernation mode (as if we needed to hide).

in closing, a quick note about some stuff going on since i last posted. i'm not inundating the twittersphere or facebook world with updates, but my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer right around thanksgiving, and yesterday she had the second of a year's worth of chemo treatments. thoughts and prayers are so appreciated.

that's all for now.