So, here's the thing about long-distance relationships...

They suck.

They totally, completely, absolutely, positively, cross-my-heart, hope to die suck.
Now I'm not the whiney kind by nature, I don't think. But for the last, oh, very near a year now, it's been sucking big time.

And yet I can't give up on it because, well,

I really love him.

The last time I saw him was in Jordan. In October...

So I will keep on becoming whineyanna and I will miss him every day. every minute.

every time I hear classic rock.

every time I hear anything.

every time someone bumps into a wall and doesn't really notice.

every time my cuticles need pushing.

every time my feet are cold.

Well, you get the point. all the time.

I love so much about this painting.

Thanks to my heavy load of Humanities classes, I'm developing quite a thing for Mr. Rembrandt Van Jinn.

This is on display at the BYU Museum of Art. I adore it. I've gone back a couple of times to look at it.
What do you think?

[Head of Christ, Rembrandt]

love, Banana

Cut-up

So bestfriend Marybutton visited me this weekend and we did fun best friend things:
birthday party. IHOP. lots and lots of piano. books. hours of talking, deep and shallow. snuggling. sleeping in.

One of our favorite best friend things is to cut up things. And sometimes we write cut-up poems.

Here's how it happened: I took seven lines each from four random sources (Atonement, a New York Times article, my Jerusalem journal, and a collection of poems by Rilke) and attempted to compile them into a pleasant sounding, almost

coherent poem.

[Us at the Seattle Zoo, years ago]                                                                    The title was chosen at random by miss Mary.

Her Multitudes Await

She hovered on the peripheries.

The stitches were clumsy and irregular;

Gandhi, Monroe, Sinatra, Kennedy.

These indignant thoughts afflicted her.

Sitting on the summit, daylight creeping in

Endless ribbons, inventing new bows

How was she to know they meant nothing in fact?

They were the best of the best in their field.

I was so nervous, tracking every single second of the trip

But it’s something I can’t give up on.

I have been a stranger in a strange land,

And I never, never want to stop singing that.

I’m becoming something of a mosaic expert,

For beauty is nothing but the onset of terror we’re still just able to bear.

The man and the woman part

He speaks only the few words necessary.

Then both look fearfully at the piano,

Two ambulances were parked at the side of the road, their back doors open.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it,

So I’m not certain who’s crying out.

You could see the handwriting on the wall

After a protest in East Jerusalem.

And in the end you still had the spirit to celebrate.

Yes, the springtimes needed you.

In the middle of December,

There was no time to ask them where they were being sent

I can feel direct deliverance,

For staying put is nowhere.

creativity, blueberry pancakes, and lots of giggles,

Banana

[Us at the Washington coast, years ago]