It is strange how things trigger other things. I will admit to being somewhat gin soaked at the moment, so bear that in mind if you choose to read further. But someone mentioned to me earlier about my difficulty letting go. It was in relation to something I won't discuss here, but it must have stuck in my head--out of context. And then there was the chat room conversation. I have learned--or remembered, because I think I DID once know this--that a chat room is always more interesting when you are drunk. I don't know what made me think of it, but I remembered something I had once thought about "beauty" and how "seeing the daffodil allowed you to infer the rose." Yes, I know....gin-soaked mind. But I said to those in the unfortunate chat room (unfortunate because really, do you want to be around ME when I am in a gin-soaked philosophical mood? I think not.) that I would look for what I had once written about that and see if I still believed it. I found it--quite amazingly on my first try looking through my old Xanga--and I do still believe it. So I'm going to post it here. The "Rob" mentioned is a friend that does not come to this site. The "Xander" is also not someone on this site. The one Mark is. The other Mark is someone who was and will always be "my Mark."

So anyway...I had this thought once. I still have it, though I doubt I could ever write it as well as I did then:

I. S. Turgenev

 

December 15th, 1878

 

"When I