I Love You for Free

Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free ~ Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker

There, now. I've taken my picture of a camel. I didn't even have to go to a faraway, exotic land to do so. I went to the Naples Zoo. And now Still Life With Woodpecker, my favorite novel of all time ~ which tells the sweet love story of a princess and an arsonist, all within a pack of Camel Lights ~ can be, in some way here, represented with the photograph of one very tall pachyderm. My tribute to an incredibly sweet love story... one that has less to do with romance, and more to do with the incredible power of love.

AJ and Lila chillin' with Flat Stanley at the Naples Zoo, 2/23/12

I am obsessed with their profiles... AJ's a mini-Ang, for sure... They even act extremely similar.
But at the same time, they have their own thing goin' on... I just love these two.

I've been down a bit recently. It's why I haven't written much. I miss the days I happily spent without someone telling me they are sick. Days without sad phone calls. Days when I could throw my toes into the warm ocean without guilt that maybe someone else was cold... I wish my dear, sweet friend wasn't sick. I wish that one of the most beautiful people I knew wasn't so sad. I wish the tiniest person I know (Lila) had feelings that were never hurt. 

I wish...

I was thinking about these very things today, as Lila and AJ and I sat on the lanai Crayola'ing the fashizz out of our Publix coloring books. Snapping out of my funk for a bit, I decided to talk about what made them happy. I asked them if it was my amazing vocals when I sing the Thomspon Twins' "I Have a Picture" throughout the day. (Not really a great response on that, so...) I asked if it was our trip to the zoo. (Affirmative.) But then AJ asked me, "Mommy, what makes YOU happy?" Lila immediately responded, "Everything in the whole wide world, AJ. And Daddy and us."

This girl's always right.