The Best Of Your Cup of Joe

A random tag from Russ McBee asks for you humble host (me) to point out five posts here which I like best. However, I am going to monkey with the tag meme and include some samples from the posts which I think are some of the best so far.

Oh and these are the "rules":

** Post about the meme and link back to the person that tagged you.

** Go back to your archives and link to your five favorite posts.

Link One: must be about family
Link Two: must be about friends
Link Three: must be about yourself
Link Four: must be about something you love
Link Five: can be anything you choose

** Tag five other people (at least two must be new acquaintances so that you can get to know them better).

First, this post comes from my first month of blogging and is an essay by my sister-in-law as she urged college students to create really good stories - but there is much more here. Her example focused on her cousin Gisele, who disappeared into the horrifying world of concentration camps during World War 2. By sheer chance, a commenter on that post prompted another search for information about Gisele and something astonishing happened. Please read the post here and be sure to read the comments to learn what happened. Here's a sample from that post:

" In fact, I’ve since learned, no one knows how or where or even if she died. The last thing we know about Gisele is that she resided for a while at Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia that was for most of the people who passed through there, the last stop before the Auschwitz.

I said the best stories are complex, but it’s not always easy to live with complexity. A cautionary tale about a girl who got bitten by a monkey is a lot easier to live with than a complicated narrative about a girl who disappeared in the crucible of World War II and whose fate will probably never be known. But just because you carry a story around in your head for years and years, doesn’t mean it’s right. And I’d rather have the complex story because even with its incomplete ending, it tells the truth. We like simple stories because they are easy to understand and their lessons are clear and easy to follow. Complex stories make us work to discover their meanings, if there are any, and their implications for our own lives can make us uncomfortable."

After this turn of events, any doubts I had back in 2005 about what good might possibly come from blogging immediately vanished and I have never had second thoughts again.

Second choice - a post about friends. For a few days last summer, I was in a panic when the sweet and lovable Sophie, The Editor's dog, somehow escaped the house and was missing for several days. What I learned from that experience was large - both Sophie, The Editor and I learned how fantastic our friends could be and dozens of other bloggers across Tennessee became new friends to us all. The full post in which I express both my sadness and joy is here and much happiness about her return and my thanks to many folks here. It was a drama and half, folks, maybe even two.

Third choice - a post about myself. There is no doubt my most revealing post (in many ways) was presented here. How revealing? Here's a sample:

"Have I ever told you about the time I went fishing and lost my pants and had to run naked to my truck? It is a true story.

Oddly, that post has been kinda popular. You'd be amazed at the number of folks who Google the phrase "naked fishing."

Fourth choice - a post about something I love. Well, dang. I post often on the topic of movies, and I loves both watching them and writing about them. But love for living things, that's what this next post is about. It's about an absent friend and my celebration of her life. WARNING: The post may elicit some tears. A sample:

"When I got to the animal hospital with her this afternoon, she waited in the truck while I spoke to the vet. An assistant asked me what color of fur she had (I have no idea why that was important) Before I could even think to answer, the words "She's golden" came out of my mouth. She is and always will be.

I have one more post to offer, just my own choice of a post I like. I am not sure which if any you dear reader might like. So I pick this one here, called Martian. One reader thought I must have been stoned-to-the-bejesus to write that. No, just me pondering the galaxy and the past and the future. Plus, the little NASA movie link in the post is still active. And I remain impressed with what I see.

"Maybe the best way to think of it is as development property -- a slow development, true. But I can almost see it all as part of the view of Our backyard. I have to use my imagination, to consider time and distance and what Life requires or how Life must adapt. I have to be willing to consider so many theories, and if I dismiss the possibilities, then I limit my view and I might as well stay in the caves."

OK, that's some of the ones I have liked best. I hope you have enjoyed these pages one-tenth as much as I enjoy making them.

Here's my choices for other bloggers to try out this meme -- the always thoughtful Alice, along with Valley Grrrl, The Editor, Tennessee Jed and Cathy at Domestic Psychology.