Dear Hallmark,

First of all: push play below for ideal background music to the introduction of this post

“No words to describe it”

This post is going to sound like I hate you…and I don’t mean it to. I understand that all you want is to make money off the average consumer-ized American. I don’t blame you for that. I just have a personal rant to go on, in the name of all things you stand for. I hope that’s alright, greeting-card-and-social-norm-manufacturer……Nothing personal.

You know when you j-walk and you have to look both ways before you cross the street? Do you ever just listen both ways and cross the street? I tried this morning, because the street felt vacant. But last minute, I looked both ways, just in case.  And guess what? The street was empty, and the silence more prominent in it’s consumption of my mind. Why did I look? Why have I become so dependent on what my eyes take in? Why is it that I’ve trained my heart to believe that my eyes are a more trust-worthy sense?

Perhaps it’s because I forget to feel. Forget to trust my heart. Forget to live in the moment, and instead allow myself to be consumed by my previous habits.

But yesterday? Yesterday was good.

 This playlist is now switching songs:

Valentine’s Day. A day dreaded by almost every single woman on this planet. No pun intended.

And you want to know why? Perhaps it’s because all a girl wants is to be loved. And when I say loved, I mean understood. No amount of flowers or chocolates or expensive dinners or kisses could compensate for raw love. Sometimes, all a girl needs is to be listened to, understood, and treated accordingly.

One more time:

And so, my dear friends at Hallmark Inc, you missed the point:

Because no words can describe when you look into someone’s eyes and suddenly the world stands still. Linked. Locked. Literally: just sitting there, being more intimately connected with that someone then you could ever have thought to be. Because it’s then when things make sense. It’s then when you remember why you are here. Not just here here, but here: at this exact point through the path you’ve climbed in life. And they tell you what they want and you decide you care about them so much, that the most logical thing on the planet is to fulfill that desire. Cost unconsidered. And suddenly you don’t remember the meaning of the word sacrifice. Because it’s not. This is just you, living your life with them in it. And this is what happens. This is what you chose. And then you know in that instant that someone understands you.

Because no words can describe how you feel when Lady Antebellum walks onto the stage introducing your favorite song. No words can describe that feeling when you let go of everything and get lost in the music.

Because no words can say what lyrics can.

Because no words can express what music can.  Austen sent me a song yesterday. “Age of Adz.” –Sufjan Stevens. For the first minute of the song, I literally thought that the person I am currently most intimately connected with had gone completely insane. But then, I did my research. Wikipedia. Of course.

"Stevens has stated in interviews that in 2009/10, he suffered from a mysterious debilitating virus infection that affected his nervous system. He experienced chronic pain and was forced to stop working on music for several months. He said: "The Age of Adz, is, in some ways, a result of that process of working through health issues and getting much more in touch with my physical self. That's why I think the record's really obsessed with sensation and has a hysterical melodrama to it."

And guess what? the world made sense again. It was exactly as he described. Like I said, music does things words couldn't even attempt. And that, Halmark, is why the world wins. And why the world is beautiful. And why I never buy any dang greeting cards. Because somethings just work. Somethings just have to be felt to make sense.

                               Sincerely, chloémichelle