21 Comments
User's avatar
Douglas S. Pierce's avatar

I think it doesn’t matter one fig what I think about you or Joe as potential partners for me — because that is not an option! Instead, I can find joy in the fact that the two of you found love with each other, and I can benefit from reading all about it!

Tom Van Valkenburgh's avatar

Exactly what you said, Douglas. I’ve been having a parafriendship with these two for well over a year and I delight in learning a bit more about them with each of Abigail’s posts.

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

Tom, this has made me smile big. Glad to be parafriends with you 💋

Francesca's avatar

This is so wonderfully put!

Douglas S. Pierce's avatar

Thank you!

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

Ditto to Francesca, Douglas — I love this comment so much.

Nemo Omnis's avatar

Always interesting to get an outside perspective on yourself.

I think the moral thing is very tough. Almost everyone does moral and immoral things everyday, even unintentionally sometime (thanks, Good Place).

As a picky eater, what's up with that? 😁

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

Also, thank you for easing ❤️ and agree on morality - it makes it a great topic for debate

Nemo Omnis's avatar

I find it interesting, like, I think about it a lot. Because we have these multitudes, where is the line between a person doing 'bad' and a 'bad' person? Like, I have certainly made mistakes, but I hope I have taken actions that would prevent hurting others in the future. So, same with morality (for me at least).

Plus, which culture's morals? It is so subjective that I am always wary of absolutes 😁

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

Hahah you wouldn’t suit my husband, but not sure that’s a problem for ya 😘 He loves cuisine!

Nemo Omnis's avatar

Everyone has their own thing 😃 Food is a big part of our lives, I can understand where if you want to share your life with someone, then you would want someone food-compatible as it were.

Courtney Mosier Warren's avatar

I, too, had my mini-maxxing-my-civilization moment when I had time for video games. haha.

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

Lmao for real - can you imagine sending a Great Person out to the optimal city right now? I’d probably send him on a multi-round journey to build a library in a city that already had a university 😭

Courtney Mosier Warren's avatar

The things we give up in the name of motherhood.

Nemo Omnis's avatar

The new Civ is interesting. I have a friend who loves and hates it :) They split each game into 'eras', to make it easier to get through a game in a single evening.

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

It’s way more intense 😪 especially for my now-parent-to-youngins brain 🤪

Rev. Kevin T. Taylor's avatar

Abigail, Joe’s question, “Does this person have an internal world?” gives the essay its truest measure. The pubs, grocery trips, bad gigs, olive jars, ideological friction, and missed door-opening cues show courtship as two private worlds discovering whether ordinary life can hold them without performance. By the end, the flags become autobiographies of the person holding them, which helps explain why curiosity proved more durable than classification. Grateful for the wit and reciprocity with which you let your husband become the observer while keeping both of you fully human.

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

🥹🥹🥹❤️❤️❤️ such a sweet review, Rev! Appreciate you!!

Rev. Kevin T. Taylor's avatar

Abigail, the affection and humor between you and Joe made the review a joy to write; the essay allowed both of you to remain wonderfully particular while showing how curiosity became part of your marriage’s language. I appreciate you, too, and I am grateful you trusted readers with such a generous portrait of being known.

Isabel Cowles Murphy's avatar

This is a perfect assignment!

Abigail A Mlinar Burns's avatar

Share your report card!