Pink in Gray

I'm sitting in the Walmart parking lot. It's a bit nippy, but by no means objectionably cold. Almost everything is gray and dreary. This is certainly a hazy shade of winter. The only contrast from this is the occasional pop of pink, purple, or red seen in the shopping carts of people who are buying Valentine's Day gifts. I have to admit I am quite enjoying these splashes of color. I know I snark a lot about this holiday and love in general, but on days like this, I remember the value. Something beautiful in an otherwise gray world. For a lot of people, that is probably what keeps them going.

In a weird way, love and marriage have been on my mind. One of my friends posted an article about how unhappy a lot of married people are with their sex lives. I also watched the movie Hope Springs, which is about a couple's journey to find passion again. It's a very common problem. It is difficult for a lot of people to sustain passion and most sensible people don't marry someone they find sexy. They marry people who seen reliable. Most of us know that excitement will only get you so far in a marriage.

Beyond that, I think most people would be better off if they accepted that you can not have all of your various needs filled by just one person. That isn't fair to them and it will never be enough for you. 

I think the best most of us can hope for is what I am seeing today . . . a life with a lot of grays, made better by the occasional inclusion of bright and warm beauty. It may not always seem like enough, but it probably is. After all, if the passion was always there, it would be common. It would cease to have meaning. Then the purples and reds of the world would mean no more than the grays.