July 25, 2025, 3 am, With You and Without You

There have been times in my life in which I felt mad, an unavoidable madness from the silence that had but a moment ago felt a comfortable coat about me but now became a deafening yet muting hum, equally even more maddeningly inescapable. 

It's been noticeably absent since you, my love. My madness of solitude has become a state of being madly in love with you, only you, and wanting your every day to be healthy, happy, wealthy, peaceful, exciting, and on your terms, especially after a lifetime of living within the confines and demands of everyone else's terms. 

You are the Everything, and I feel like I'll burst when I hold you in my arms, when I caress your skin with my hands, as I hope I'm touching your soul and caressing your tension into tranquility and a reality that everything you've ever wanted to have and be has knowingly been inside you but I have the honor of being with you to understand and help you bring it forth. 

I look into your eyes and see you looking back at me. I know that when that happens, I'm experiencing the better part of that moment. I've always known who I am, and all I ever want is to be with you.

By Actor Jeff Daniels, Inspired by Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright

The best damn pickup line I ever heard was by some guy in a bar south of Harrisburg.

Seen himself a woman, she was drinking all alone, I watched him blaze a trail through her great unknown.

He saddled up smooth like a man on the make, the empty seat beside her was his to take.

He said, "Darling', I know just what you think you're thinkin' - Bartender, I'll have what she thinks she's drinkin'."

And before she knew it, he was in control,

She was the rhythm to his blues, she was the rock to his roll.

All he had to say was "where do we begin?

How 'bout we cut to the chase, and start at the end?"

He said, "I'll bet you've lived a life best forgotten, you're up for grabs, you're down-trodden.

Your past is on your back and your future's too far, and now you're worried you don't know why you're where you are."

He said, "if somehow or other they make me king of this world, I'd turn your oyster into a great big pearl,

The snap of my fingers and a wave of my wand, I'd brighten your darkness with a bright new dawn."

And before she knew it, he was in control,

She was the rhythm to his blues, she was the rock to his roll.

All he had to say was "where do we begin?

How 'bout we cut to the chase, and start at the end?"

Before she could say a word, he was starin' off in the distance like he was broken down and needed some roadside assistance...

He finally turned, looked her right straight in the eye, he said, "Darlin', at the risk of seein' a grown man cry...

And I don't know about you - I'd like to live in a place where I'm surrounded by love, compassion, and grace.

There ain't no castles, there ain't no throne, everyone's got everyone and no one's alone.

There ain't no hatred, there ain't no greed, the only thing you want is the only thing you need,

Where miracles happen and dreams come true, 

where a man like me, yes, a man like me can love a woman like you."

The best damn pickup line I ever heard was by some guy in a bar south of Harrisburg.

Running To Stand Still

We gathered in young, energetic friendship and adolescent romance, and it inevitably reached that softer part of the evening when someone produced an acoustic guitar, and somehow, almost inexplicably, the player's few opening chords led us all into singing U2 songs, notably this one. I remember everyone there and how they all looked, at once children and yet adults, and our histories and experiences strangely reached back much farther than our actual ages. And we were all alright under the comfortable shade of the passing clouds under the starlit sky.

https://youtu.be/orfhLLo7XDs?si=34RBhOLYwPxli2Wi