Running is a good place to think.
This time, I was thinking about a speech made by some shleb at the Emmys this year. He said, about his partner, (and I am definitely paraphrasing, but the real quote is added below,) "You're my favourite person on earth..." and I wondered, is there really such a thing?
I know what I should say is Yes. A resounding, definite Yes. In fact, I suspect a lot of you are thinking I should have said, my husband is, of course. And a lot of the time, he truly is.
But sometimes it is my Mom. When she arrives and simply takes my girls from my exhausted arms and plays with them in the bath so that I can sit and slowly enjoy a cup of tea. Or when she hugs me and tells me that she is proud of me. Or when we sit and laugh at our (often very wicked) inside jokes.
And sometimes, it is my toddling daughter or my baby. Toddling daughter told me the other day that she loves me up to the sky. How can I not put her on top of the list then? When I wake up before baby and she lets me lie in bed and read a little, how can she not scoot to the top either?
Often it is my brother. He is so smart and interesting and funny. And he makes me so proud of him and challenges my thinking all the time. He was my first best friend and will probably be my last. When ever we're together, which isn't nearly often enough, the rest of the world vanishes.
And definitely my Dad. Even toddler knows that he can fix anything. She hasn't learnt yet that he also knows everything. He is always my go-to when I need advice, always the person I call when I don't understand something, and he always helps. He is also top of the list when he calls me to help him with his iPod or iTunes or to simply play a song he's successfully downloaded to me over the phone.
And I didn't want this post to become a single-out session, because then I would need to mention a whole lot more people. But this particular jog became a place where I really thought about the concept of one person being your absolute favourite person on earth. And then I (panted!) and thought, but why would someone say that about someone else? Not for the obvious reasons, I get those, but what is the underlying feeling and sentiment? It has got to have something to do with the way that they make you feel, surely?
So the favourite person on earth can be equated to your favourite place on earth. Because that, I understand. Your favourite person on earth might very well be the place you love most as well. Who's to say? But it is something worth pondering.
A little while ago, if you had told me that my earthly time was nearly up and I could choose any way I liked to spend my last few hours, I would have chosen to spend those last few hours having so much fun I wouldn't even know what hit me when I croaked. I would want my closest family there and certainly my husband and daughters. Lots of great food and wine, chocolate and ice cream. It would be decadent and delicious.
There are occasions when if you asked me to answer the same question, I would split the time between saying brief goodbyes and then ask for a few hours to simply sit under a tree and read a great book, cover to cover, without interruptions. Or maybe finish off writing a great book, who knows. I would need to say goodbye last though. Can't be crying and reading at the same time.
I guess, like who our favourite person on earth is, the answer depends on the mood at the time of the asking. Just as asking where your favourite place on earth is, depends largely on the season. I love the idea of sitting under a tree on a warm day and watching a beautiful garden. That is my favourite place to be. When I do that, on our garden bench at home, and have Toddler playing around me, picking little flowers and splashing in the bird bath, she is my favourite person as well. So sweet and kind and innocent, her actions are without malice and stem purely from curiosity and creativity.
When I sit on the same bench, watching the same Toddler, but holding my husband's hand, he becomes my favourite person on earth. Sitting quietly watching her play and watching the garden go from bright green of midday, to dusk. We share a love for the toddler, but her existence stemmed from our love for each other. It's a beautiful, priceless thing to share with someone; especially when you still love one another.
In winter, that bench is cold and horrid to sit on. So the favouritism is definitely seasonal. Just like sometimes, toddler shouts loudly and wakes her sister, just as I put one down for a nap and then she goes from the top of the list to the bottom. Or hubby arrives home from work to a home cooked meal only to announce that he forgot to let you know that he was going out for a work dinner, and he has to shower and be out of the door in fifteen minutes. He then falls down the list too.
After rattling off the names of his co-stars, family, and manager, Parsons gave one last shout-out to his love of more than 10 years. "[Thanks] to my favorite person on the planet, Todd Spiewak," he said into the mic. Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/jim-parsons-calls-boyfriend-todd-spiewak-his-favorite-person-on-the-planet-in-2013-emmys-speech-2013229#ixzz2foQlkZil
I know what I should say is Yes. A resounding, definite Yes. In fact, I suspect a lot of you are thinking I should have said, my husband is, of course. And a lot of the time, he truly is.But sometimes it is my Mom. When she arrives and simply takes my girls from my exhausted arms and plays with them in the bath so that I can sit and slowly enjoy a cup of tea. Or when she hugs me and tells me that she is proud of me. Or when we sit and laugh at our (often very wicked) inside jokes.
And sometimes, it is my toddling daughter or my baby. Toddling daughter told me the other day that she loves me up to the sky. How can I not put her on top of the list then? When I wake up before baby and she lets me lie in bed and read a little, how can she not scoot to the top either?
Often it is my brother. He is so smart and interesting and funny. And he makes me so proud of him and challenges my thinking all the time. He was my first best friend and will probably be my last. When ever we're together, which isn't nearly often enough, the rest of the world vanishes.
And definitely my Dad. Even toddler knows that he can fix anything. She hasn't learnt yet that he also knows everything. He is always my go-to when I need advice, always the person I call when I don't understand something, and he always helps. He is also top of the list when he calls me to help him with his iPod or iTunes or to simply play a song he's successfully downloaded to me over the phone.
And I didn't want this post to become a single-out session, because then I would need to mention a whole lot more people. But this particular jog became a place where I really thought about the concept of one person being your absolute favourite person on earth. And then I (panted!) and thought, but why would someone say that about someone else? Not for the obvious reasons, I get those, but what is the underlying feeling and sentiment? It has got to have something to do with the way that they make you feel, surely?
So the favourite person on earth can be equated to your favourite place on earth. Because that, I understand. Your favourite person on earth might very well be the place you love most as well. Who's to say? But it is something worth pondering.
A little while ago, if you had told me that my earthly time was nearly up and I could choose any way I liked to spend my last few hours, I would have chosen to spend those last few hours having so much fun I wouldn't even know what hit me when I croaked. I would want my closest family there and certainly my husband and daughters. Lots of great food and wine, chocolate and ice cream. It would be decadent and delicious.
There are occasions when if you asked me to answer the same question, I would split the time between saying brief goodbyes and then ask for a few hours to simply sit under a tree and read a great book, cover to cover, without interruptions. Or maybe finish off writing a great book, who knows. I would need to say goodbye last though. Can't be crying and reading at the same time.
I guess, like who our favourite person on earth is, the answer depends on the mood at the time of the asking. Just as asking where your favourite place on earth is, depends largely on the season. I love the idea of sitting under a tree on a warm day and watching a beautiful garden. That is my favourite place to be. When I do that, on our garden bench at home, and have Toddler playing around me, picking little flowers and splashing in the bird bath, she is my favourite person as well. So sweet and kind and innocent, her actions are without malice and stem purely from curiosity and creativity.
When I sit on the same bench, watching the same Toddler, but holding my husband's hand, he becomes my favourite person on earth. Sitting quietly watching her play and watching the garden go from bright green of midday, to dusk. We share a love for the toddler, but her existence stemmed from our love for each other. It's a beautiful, priceless thing to share with someone; especially when you still love one another.
In winter, that bench is cold and horrid to sit on. So the favouritism is definitely seasonal. Just like sometimes, toddler shouts loudly and wakes her sister, just as I put one down for a nap and then she goes from the top of the list to the bottom. Or hubby arrives home from work to a home cooked meal only to announce that he forgot to let you know that he was going out for a work dinner, and he has to shower and be out of the door in fifteen minutes. He then falls down the list too.
But, (I pant to myself,) can there be only one? Or does it work on a system of averages?
Should it bother me that I don't have just one favourite person? I don't think so. Should I perhaps remember that Parsons is an actor and he may have been covering up a horrible fight with his boyfriend by that statement? It was, after all, only said at the end of the speech. I think the way to look at it, or at least the way I suggest to look at it, is that the more people you have on that list, the more blessed you are. I could never trade any one of my favourites in favour of another. They aren't interchangeable. Like the bench in my garden being one of my favourite places on earth, so is an awesome restaurant along the coast I have been to a few times. They serve different purposes and fulfil different roles in my life. And my existence is richer because they both, (as well as a few other places I consider the most important from time to time,) exist.
If what Parsons said is true, and there is only one 'Favourite person on Earth,' for him. Then I envy him, in a way. If we compare his one person to some of my favourites, mentioned earlier on, I can go to my mom for hugs when I need encouragement, to my dad for advice and for information when I need someone super smart, to my brother for a different view to life and for a break from my very domesticated reality, to my children for a serious dose of domesticated bliss and then to my hubby for all those lovely things he does. How can one person, truly, fulfil all of those roles? That's a lot of pressure. Phew.
But I guess if Jim Parsons had a team of favourites like I do, his speech would have been too long?
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