I started this blog so I could learn about love — the Buddhist idea of it, the kind that inflects and colours every action. Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa kind of love. Impossible love ~

Yesterday I realised: I’m getting better at it! I found myself brimming with love as I drove to the Saturday Farmer’s market. I reveled in loving my husband, still sleeping soundly in his bed behind me. But of course, that’s easy — a given. So I noticed that I love the way early morning sunlight gilds the Arkansas River as you drive beside it, down Riverside Drive. And I love that my niece got up early to keep her promise to herself to run 4 miles yesterday. But again, those aren’t hard things to love — beauty, family.

So I reached a little deeper. I love the way the guy who sells me peaches  & melons & figs is happy to see me (I’ve been buying from him since he first set up shop several years ago). I love the dogs that snuffle each other as their owners eye berries & flowers & eggs. I love how it feels to put the top down on my car, and bask in the bright sunlight that will be incandescent in only a few hours. And again, I stop, because this is all EASY. How hard is it to love people who are glad to see you? Or playful dogs??

So here it is ~ my final list of 6 impossible things to love before breakfast:

1. A middle-aged woman in a pristine Mennonite cap, briskly discussing her blackberries for sale.
2. A would-be dogfight between a cock-sure mixed breed and an unimpressed Golden Retriever.
3. Snow cones I don’t buy, in flavours like espresso, and cream soda (all natural!).
4. The fact that my sister wanted me to join her for breakfast enough that she texted me at 6:30 a.m. Like I would be up reading a text at 6:30 a.m.!
5. How even cranky drivers don’t really matter when the top’s down and the wind is blowing (great lesson, this one!).
6. That smiling at someone who is obviously (and audibly!) having a bad day makes you feel good, even if it does no apparent good for the still-unhappy recipient.