Along the lines of Expiration Dates

Milk, peanut butter, tofu... Hopefully everything in your refridgerator, freezer, and pantry has an expiration date. In regards to food, expiration dates are important, good even. They keep us safe and healthy.
Other things have expiration dates as well. Utilities bills, foreclosure and eviction notices, and sometimes even lives. Whiles these are just as necessary, they are so much harder to cope with. You can't just throw them out when they go bad, go to the grocery store, and get a replacement.
Many relationships have expiration dates. It's hard to say whether or not those are the hardest kinds of expiration dates to deal with or not. At least there will always be the possibility of another one, and hopefully won't land you in a grave.
How are you supposed to let go? Each hug, each kiss, each simple touch... hurts. You miss them prematurely, you miss them when they are still in the seat next to you. How are you supposed to let yourself love them more and more each day until it ends? Is it worth the pain?
Regardless of how hard you try to hold on, sometimes you can't change the day it expires, just as you can't change the date on yogurt; it will go bad at the same time, no matter how hard you try.

Along the Lines of.... Chinese Food

There is something deeply satisfying about a take-out order of Chinese food. It might be the square-ish shaped box with the little wire handle, or maybe it's the comfort of fried food that isn't American.
Tonight's order was pressed almond chicken and ham fried rice, which came with a small container of sweet and sour sauce and another smaller side of white, steamed rice. Now this food isn't your regular Panda Express or Rice King food; it belongs to a higher group of take out: Golden Tree Cafe. If you have yet to experience the glorious food that springs forth from these kitchens, I encourage you to take whatever transportation is necessary to partake.
As I said earlier, there is just something about Chinese food that satisfies the deepest of cravings (except, perhaps, that of crystal methamphetamine and other such illegal drugs). It was particularly satisfying to change into my pajamas, open my laptop, and scoop small spoonfuls of ham fried rice into my mouth after a long day/night of work.
You know, I have this vision of a date I would love to go on. The basics are the same, but with one variable. I would love to get Chinese take-out and watch re-runs of I Love Lucy by a fireplace. Any old television show or movie would work, really. As for that variable I was talking about, it would also be enjoyable to enjoy that same Chinese food at a drive-in movie. Picture cuddling up together in the bed of a truck with a blanket draped over our feet, delicious food in our hands, and a movie out in the cool, summer night's air.
Wonderful, isn't it?
And now, my paper container of fried rice is now depleted of it's contents.
Good-bye, my dear ham fried rice. I shall miss you.

Laugh Lines of the Day

"Please Pharaoh Tuten-Ramen-Noodle! Let my people Go-Gurt!" - Stephen Colbert

"If you're staring at me, it better be because I'm the suspect. If not, get back to work or I swear you're all demoted to something that involves touching s*** with your hands!" - Eagle Eye

http://www.noob.us/humor/the-office-kgb-knock-knock-joke/

Lines

"There's two dates in time that they'll carve on your stone, and everyone knows what they mean. But what's more important is the time that is known - that little dash there in between."

There are so many types of lines in this world: life lines on a TV game show, mile-long lines at the mall on Black Friday, and old, worn-thin laugh lines. There are also the lines that you'll find on the page of a novel, arranged in odd patterns and designs to make up words. Journals are filled with these same kinds of lines. Dancers follow lines of the body, and musicians, lines of music. And, of course, there will be lines that create the two dates on your headstone, and the small dash in between.

It doesn't really matter what sort of line it is, a line can change or at least influence our lives in the most unimaginable ways possible. A line on a road that is ignored can change your life drastically. A line that is out of place on an ultrasound can be devastating. Medically speaking, lines can be very bad things. Red lines on a snow-white wrist speak novels for themselves, and seeing those lines can alter a life perhaps more drastically than the person who put them there.

Lines also have the fantastic power to alter a life positively. Comfort and wisdom can be found by the lines in a book. Guidance can be left in a letter. Lines of stitches can seal together wounds that would have otherwise been fatal. Emotion is express in the lines of a wedding vow, and hearts are reached by lines of actors and religious leaders.

Faint outlines are already in place for different aspects of our lives. Our personalities create some of these outlines, and we know what we personally can and cannot do. Dreams and aspirations also give us outlines; they are not always permanent, but they are there when we need them, and slowly fade as other lines grow into place.

I know the course that I want my life to follow, or to use the theme of this post and my blog, I have drawn out the lines that I want my life to follow. For now, these outlines mean freedom, hope, and a reason to keep pushing through whatever it is I am facing. I've watched as people have come and gone in my life, some leaving more lines in my life's book than others, but each person is there regardless of how faint. I've watched as the chapters of people's lives, the ones with me in them, have ended, and they have started writing down the new lines in the next part of their story.

I don't profess to be someone who is going to change the world. I just hope that along the lines of my life, I can be a few lines in someone else's story as well.