estas tres cosas te ofresco...

for all of you romantics out there, and as a reminder to myself,

los embajadores criollos' "alma, corazon, y vida" ("soul, heart and life").
spanish lyrics translated into english by me. sorry if there are any mistakes.

apparently my dad sang this to my mom all the time. how sweet.

being in love is probably one of the greatest feelings a human being can experience. you start letting go of concerns that have pained you in the past, and you cultivate a trust with that other, a trust that encourages you to share your entire self-- what makes you smile, confused, frustrated, or just about any other feeling.
you cherish just about every level of intimacy--intellectual, spiritual and physical--and you look forward to what's to come, to growing old with that other.

amor

I might as well continue onto the second item on my photoblog project--

2. Love --

This is Bartholomew (or just Bart), and as soon as I think of the word "love" (as the noun, as the verb, or even as an adjective if you add an -ly), I think of this fella. He has exceeded my every expectation in what I look for in a partner. If you allow me to be sappy for just one moment-- looking into his eyes is consuming, hearing him speak about his passions & ideas is just as flooring as witnessing Picasso's Guernica in person, and being able to share myself with him reconciles that DFW quote I posted a few weeks ago, namely:

“There is something painful about being stuck in a body, in a consciousness, 

that can’t ever, except through conversation, be inside someone else’s.”

Old things.

Rummaging through a box of old stuff to find a lighter, I came across:

 an old six page love letter written to me with an impressive

second page delineating the function of the heart

a little index card ("zoo card") aileen left on my desk

almost five years ago

Adorable Floridian couples.

As Carmen and I had were hanging out along Banana River, this couple sat nearby, cracked open some cheap beer, and started talking to us. They were newlyweds and recent transplants from some other Southern state: 

Romance, Schiele vs. Munch.