Simple math

It takes a few minutes to do the math, a simple calculation to determine the number of years we have been married.  But I need to stop and think about it.  My wife just knows.  It's the same with birthdays and other celebrations that need to be memorialised.  I need a written prompt but it seems to have been enoded into her DNA.  It must just be another one of those mysteries of married life, although I can't say which one - I've lost count.

reasons to be cheerful

Love, life and laughter.  Family, good food, wine, and beer.  Crispy snow under a blue sky.  Walking across muddy fields towards a warm house. Lying in the sun, snoozing in the afternoon.  Music.  Listening to the radio.  Did I mention sex yet?  Eating out.  Looking at art.  Standing at the top of a hill you've walked up.  Watching your cat.  Talking to friends.  Reading a book that is truly a home for the mind.  Walking through a wood.  Travel.  A hot shower.  Pebbles on the beach.  Watching the waves of a rough sea from the safety of the shore.  Walking around a town or city in the hot sun.  Sitting sipping coffee or cold beer and watching the world go by. Hearing something nice being said to you.  Cuddling your wife.  Kissing.  Waking up beside your wife.  Kissing. 

Words hurt ... words heal

I never did understand the old saw that 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me'.  Words do hurt, everyone knows that, from the playground bully to tabloid journalists and politicians,  and all of their many victims.  Having myself been the recent victim  of a venomous outburst of vitriol I know whereof I speak.  What is remarkable to me is the power these words have, have had, continue to have.  It appears that they have been seared on my psyche.  They still swirl unannounced and unwelcome around my head.  They still sting.  I struggle to find the right words to heal and am reminded of the truism that a negative encounter has many more times an effect than a positive one.  Presumably time will be the great healer as often it is, but what a painful journey.