These are random conversations between Victoria and me. They are unpredictable because we can be anywhere, doing anything in the blink of an eye! There’s a whole lot of life between adventures. Please join us as we examine, explore, and experience the world. Green buttons under a post tell you more about our daily activities.

Thursday, 12:18 PM – I want to know what love is

“What is love?”
“What?”
“What is love?”
“That’s a pretty broad question. Why do you ask?”
“Everything is about love or hate on your planet.”
“I’ve never given it much thought, but you could be right.”
“I think I understand what hate is from studying your conflicts, but what is love?”
“Well, that’s not a simple question. Love takes many forms. People love their possessions, their pets, music, art, and that’s only a partial list. On occasion, they’ve even been known to love each other.”
“What do you love?”
“Well, I love that big, black furball over there.”
“But why do you love your cat animal? All he does is eat and sleep.”
“I suppose because he needs me and that brings a certain degree of comfort into my life.”
“Is being needed why people love?”
“That’s part of it, but it gets a little more complicated with people.”
“Do you love anyone?”
“I love my friends. I don’t have any family.”
“Your video records show people loving one person. Have you ever loved one person?”
“Video records? Oh, you mean movies.”
“Movies, yes. I watched one that was made during one of your wars. It was called The Americanization of Emily.”
“You mean have I ever loved someone like James Garner loves Julie Andrews in the movie? Maybe not as dramatically as that but, yes, I have. It was a long time ago. I was very young.”
“But you are not with her now. Why are you not?”
“Because life isn’t black and white. Sometimes, people have a hard time getting past the shades of gray.”
“I do not understand.”
“She was driving down the California coast from her family home in Walnut Creek, California. Everyone thought she was on her way to see me, but she never made it to Los Angeles.”
“Did she become lost along the way?”
“You could say that. She checked into a motel a few hundred miles south of San Francisco. A few days later, she committed suicide.”
“She ceased to exist?”
“Yes.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Humans suffer from two categories of illnesses, physical and mental. Medical science has come a long way in understanding a variety physical illnesses but, I’m afraid mental illness remains somewhat of a mystery.”

Veterans Day, 7:22 AM

“Other civilizations do not honor their warrior conquerors. Why do humans?”
“Because, except for terrorist groups and other groups with extreme ideologies, we do not have warrior conquerors. Our warriors are soldiers who protect freedoms. In this country, and many others, we honor those who protect our freedoms.”
“Why do your freedoms need protecting?”
“Because they weren’t given to us. They were fought for and died for.”
“Your warriors ceased to exist for these freedoms?”
“Soldiers and civilians have died for our freedoms. But we celebrate our soldiers because they routinely enter conflicts and perform acts of heroism that most civilians would not.”
“If they perform acts of heroism, then they are heroes. We have talked about how sports heroes are treated better than other humans. Are warrior heroes treated better than other humans?”
“Although they all should be, some are not. Many leave military service only to find little or no support in civilian life. A lot of our veterans end up homeless or suffering from treatable mental illnesses that go untreated because services for military veterans are overwhelmed and underfunded.”
“You should help them by telling other humans this in your blog.”
“The Writer’s Reality blog will only help a little. People need to get involved by letting their politicians know that this problem will no longer be tolerated. They also need to get involved on a more personal level. Some private organizations, companies, and individuals do get involved; unfortunately, it’s not enough. We need to do more than celebrating our veterans one day a year and forgetting about them the rest of the year.”

Saturday, 6:08 PM – Dinner

“Where are we going for dinner?”
“Uh, what?”
“It is Saturday. We should go to dinner.”
“I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but why should we go to dinner?”
“Because it is date night. Humans go to dinner on date night.“
“But we aren’t dating.”
“Why are we not dating?”
“Because dating is when two people who like each other go out and do things together.”
“Do you not like me?”
“Of course I like you, but not in a romantic way.”
“If you liked me in a romantic way, could we then go to dinner?”
“I don’t think you understand. We can go to dinner even if we’re not a couple.”
“But we are a couple. A couple is two of something. We are two life forms. We can go to dinner as a couple of life forms on date night.”
“No… you see… a couple is not just two life forms…. So, did you have any particular place in mind?”
“I watched a chronicle of a place that makes cakes of cheese. Humans seemed to be having a good time there.”
“A chronicle of… you saw a commercial for The Cheesecake Factory.”
“Yes, that is it. We should go to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.”