Dag nab it.

Don’t you know this was one jam-packed day with out this monkey wrench in my plans?

Okay…. it started like this.

I felt the need to open a Fortune Cookie… first thing in the day.  I simply wanted to know.
And this is what it foretold…. “You have a friendly heart, and are well admired.”

I think part of this may be true.  There are times when I have a friendly heart.  (I also have my “Evil Twin Moments” in life.)  At any rate, I tucked the fortune into my pocket and set off for the day.

So then…. On my way to visit my Mom, I felt the need for a Diet Coke.  I like a Diet Coke, I’ll tell you.  In fact, I have a bit of an addiction.  Now… before you jump my case about “how bad it is for me”… and all of that…   I have a few thoughts.

Get ready for a side-bar.

Gluten-free is a passing fad.  Pasty white foods will some day rule the world.  And a most recent study has reported that  salt, coffee, chocolate, red wine, zucchini, pickled herring, and Ostrich eggs are good / not good for you…. depending on the day.  Not to mention the whole sunscreen report.

So… back to my Diet Coke stop.  Those people at Coca-Cola are running a very neat-o campaign.  The cans now say things like… “Have a Diet Coke with your Buddy.”  Or “Have a Diet Coke with your Dad; a Star; your sister; a Pal.” And on and on.

Today, I reached in the cooler at the Slurpy-Mart and grabbed a cold one.  A little later… I noticed it said… “Have a Diet Coke with Alex.”  Holy Crap.  I don’t KNOW an Alex.

For the next five or six hours…I walked around town… asking people if they were “Alex”… and I assured them that I had a kind heart… and was even admired by many.  I did this in hopes of convincing someone to have this Diet Coke with me.

It was all to no avail.  I found no Alex.  I grew so thirsty…  that I had to drink the DC… all by myself…. feeling a little despondent… and regrettably…. admired by none.

The rest of my day… continued …. to say the least.  And this evening… when I finally got home… I sat down with Mary, and Max, and Frances, and Ollie.  We talked and laughed about the stories of the day…  while I had a Diet Coke.

And then it hit.  This is what I learned.

Sometimes… everything you are looking for… is found right at your home of homes. Right…. in the center of your heart.  And sometimes it doesn’t really matter WHAT you call it.  This was my Alex.

Sure enough…..  I’ll drink to that.

“The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand”  –   Robert Valett