Oh yes. I grew up in southwest Michigan and still vacation on mackinaw island and UP.

Have you ever stared at the moon and felt like you could almost touch it?

From the few posts I have seen on here from you, I am not surprised. Thank you for living that way.

Have you ever been a Michigan fan?

We call a lot of things love and it can be confusing. If you want romantic love or someone to meet your needs, you prioritize attraction in body and personality and hope it’s mutually sincere. Online is as good as any place to start if you are careful. A lifetime love though requires unconditional love on your part though and a generous dose of Grace. No partner will be able to go a lifetime without letting you down, but forgiveness is an incredible antidote to bitterness and frustration. If you seek someone worthy of your lifetime of unconditional love, be cautious. Online may be a starting point but it’s easy even for the sincere to be less than forthcoming.

Instead of seeking to be overcome by love or a victim of love, seek someone worthy and choose to love them regardless of what you get in return.

Of course. Lol. It’s challenging enough to be me. No desire to be someone else.

Have you ever given something sacrificially but anonymously and realized that it feels amazing?

Well written and such Truth. Should remind us not to lose our own child within.

Beautiful and amazing

of course not. Being Passionate about being with someone is a choice.

ears used to be a great tool for hearing.. now, a pretty good, but I wouldn't say great tool.

Grateful is always a sign of deep character. Peaceful is a choice of keeping things in perspective.. and sleepy is both the name of one of the dwarfs and a feeling I prefer when it is time to go to bed..lol

Absolutely. I don't regret that I chose to move on, but I absolutely regret putting myself in a position to hurt someone. In every case, it has worked out for the best for both of us, but I did not intend to turn something on that I couldn't or wouldn't see through and at the time I didn't realize how selfish I was being.

Raft leads to a great adventure, floating gently down the river, listening to a distant roar

hug is a possibility, but watch out for the squeeze.

I am sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon.

Kiss

Tomorrow
hope, anticipation, promise
gambling on dreams
empty or full, unresolved

Yesterday
pleasure and pain
success and failure
no repetition, fading

This moment
real and realized
full of discovery
beauty in blossom

I choose this moment, every moment
not the past or future
but the present adventure

I open doors for ladies and allow them to go first, simply because it is how I was raised. I work at a university and am surrounded by much younger people who were not raised to do so. I don't do it because of a code, but again, it's the way I was raised. I have never experienced anything other than appreciation.

But with a signigicant other, I would think that far more important than opening a door for her, would be to listen and to care about what she has to say. To recognize that household chores are ours not hers and that children thrive off of parental teamwork, not me being absent. There is no list or requirement or my manners would simply be out of obligation, but loving someone requires choices that may be inconvenient and time consuming and offer no reward. The reward is the smile that is more about the shared moment then the "deed" I just did.

Maybe the most challenging thing for me is to allow someone else to be chivalrous or to do something that helps me.

A spark and a flame
That point of burning oxygen
So magnetic, drawing my attention

A lifetime teaches
how hungry is the flame
more fuel required, so vulnerable

How many sparks starve before
flames flare without warmth
The caretaker neglects

But oh when tended
cared for and stroked
The conflagration grows

Fully fueled, blazing high
warmth and light
all past sparks and flames consumed

Kiss and then run!

Awesome. Glad to hear that

This is heartfelt and personal making it beautiful and powerful.