Ready Or Not

Someone once said, ~Life and love are like hide and seek. People spend their whole lives looking for love, but when they finally forget to look for it, they find it.~ Without a doubt, you can most definitely feel as if you're in a game of hide and seek, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. For I'm not speaking in the literal context in which you and your friends back in the day scrambled to find the best possible hiding place in order to not be found, which was considered fun when you were younger, but now not so much. In any case, I'm speaking in terms of the metaphorical sense where one isn't capable of climbing/looking up, down, under, behind, or into the one hiding spot a person can't physically go into in order to find that certain someone, so to speak, and that's within their heart.

If you think about it, when it comes to hide and seek the main goal as the seeker is to visually search places that someone would or wouldn't normally hide in order to get the better of you, which is seen as a challenge. Yet, when you're searching with your heart there are times where you feel like that no matter where you look you seem to always end up either disappointed or heartbroken. It's a frustrating situation indeed to come up empty, in a manner of speaking, when you think you've possibly found someone only to be in all intents and purposes deceived by your own heart as it leads you to see something that was never really there to begin with. Hey, we've all been there at some point in our lives and despite suffering painful setbacks you haven't given up on finding true love someday.

Let me ask you this question, did you consider yourself being good at hiding when it came to the game of hide and seek? The reason I'm asking is because there are certain people who are, in a sense, good at hiding behind their heart as they keep their emotions and feelings well hidden from view, which can be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. We all know someone or are that someone who has been hurt in the past as there is this overwhelming fear that if hidden feelings and emotions are found to the point where that particular guy or girl doesn't reciprocate them back you end up just hiding deeper within your heart. Yet, the question remains that you yourself must answer which is how long have you been hiding behind your heart and are you tired of it?

Thinking about it, one of the rules of hide and seek if you're chosen to be it is you have to close your eyes and count to a certain number before seeking the person or persons in question. In some aspect, there comes a point where the eyes of your heart can be closed for a long period of time as it is left in all intensive purposes counting to an infantile number waiting for any kind of sign or acknowledgment to have them truly opened. For some, most, or all people it seems as if one has been stuck in that position of waiting for quite some time and would like nothing more than to have that someone special walk up to tell you to not only finally stop counting, but also to open your heart so it can see who is able to finally take you out and no longer play that hide and seek game that is called dating.

In retrospect, you can come to a point in life/love where you can become sick and tired of the so-called dating game in order to seek out that certain someone who is essentially hiding somewhere out there in plain view for you to find. You have to admire those who are still searching as they look up, down, behind, and underneath for Mr./Ms. Right in every place imaginable knowing that he or she may be in the one area that you haven't looked, which is in front of you. However, the funny thing is when you don't intend on looking to meet someone or hiding yourself because of being hurt in the past that you will basically end up having that particular person find you. In the end, when you can make the decision to stop looking, hiding, and counting you can say aloud to whoever is out there to tag your heart to be his/her "it" ready or not I'll be here.

Never Gone

Thomas Carlysle once said, ~What an enormous magnifier is tradition! How a thing grows in the memory and in the human imagination when love, worship, and all that lies in the human heart, is there to encourage to it.~ If you think about it, its astounding how many traditions have been created to the point where its celebrated either daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. For its those particular traditions you accept at face value even though there are certain ones that tend to make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Hey, its just a matter of going with the flow as you either become a simple participant or spectator at the event/occasion in question. Thinking about it, when it comes to establishing traditions they can be considered either truly insane, competitive, or so heartwarming it touches the heart.

Let me ask you this question, when did jumping/running into freezing water wearing only a bathing suit become such a popular tradition? The Polar Bear Club as its otherwise known brings together people who share a common goal and that particular goal is to show other people how insane they truly are as they put their own health on the line doing something that is considered dangerous. How dangerous? The potential risks involved swimming in freezing cold water are hypothermia, a heart attack, cardiac arrest, seizures, etc. Anyways, we all may possibly know someone or God help you, you are that someone who quite literally takes the plunge with other people...voluntarily mind you...and runs straight into frigid cold water with reckless abandonment instead of staying warm on dry land.

Without a doubt, when it comes to the spirit of friendly competition it can inevitably turn into something traditional in which there is a possibility a bet is involved. A bet that may not always involve a lump sum of money exchanging hands, which is an act that is deemed totally wrong for any person to participate in and yet it is lucrative to those who are on the winning side...but I digress. Personally speaking, this past summer my best friend and I started a tradition in which the guy who lost in the 3rd game in bowling would pay for the other's ticket if and/or when a good movie comes out like Iron Man coming out this summer. Essentially, I've won the past two times we've bowled and with that said my best friend has to pay for my tickets, but unfortunately not the food.

For the question can be asked to all you women out there, did your husband or boyfriend ask your father, brother, or some type of father figure for your hand in marriage. You see, the reason I'm asking is because I come from the old school way of thinking where it's important to ask permission from the father in order to marry the daughter, which sounds cliche. In any case, by going to the woman's father or the father figure of the family such as the older brother, grandfather, uncle, family friend, etc, you as a guy are seen in his eyes as someone who shows great appreciation for her as woman who has a bond unlike any other that must be handled with extreme care and it most certainly puts one's best foot forward in order to establish a proper relationship with him as well.

In retrospect, you have to respect those who stand by certain traditions that adhere to either religion, family, or whatever the case may be as they date back not only decades but also centuries as well. It can befuddle the mind as to how many different traditions there are when it pertains to international cultures that have their own ways/styles of celebrating such things as birth, death, a man/woman's right of passage into adulthood, engagements, weddings, and so much more. In the end, every person celebrates something that is traditional without thinking about it showing that even though the ideals/concepts aren't always understood as to why we do it, its the essence of what it stands for/means that are never gone from one's mind and heart.