THE BIG MISH-MASH

It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. This is a line from a 19th century poem by Tennyson in memory of his friend A. H. Hallam, who died at the age of 22. This idea that experiencing love, even if it ends in heartbreak, is worthwhile, ties to the bigger message that we should live fully even if it means getting hurt sometimes. This is a theme that runs deep in The Lady of Shalott, another Tennyson poem.

Hey, bit of a bad day? Yeah, me too. Want to talk about it? Hmm... me neither. But you know what? I can invite you to a cup of hot cocoa. I have oatmeal cranberry cookies too. It's a bit late for anything else, but one day you could come over for a tea party. I've always wanted to hold a tea party, in the style of Anne of Green Gables, with homemade pies, plum-cakes, sandwiches...