Oh, to find a daffodilled quagmire of Greta-people

Word of the day: quagmire.

As in, "Our hike went well until we fell into the quagmire and had to hog-tie the gators."

Or, "Gee! This pile of grading sure has me in a quagmire. How many days left til spring break again?-- er, summer vacation?"

The last definition of quagmire is "anything soft or flabby." Seriously?? As in, a dimpled thigh could be called a quagmire?

That seems a bit harsh, eh? Regardless: it's a fantastic word.

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I saw a description of my Myers-Briggs type this weekend. The subtitle describing ENFJ is: "Smooth-talking persuader."

Hey little kid, want some candy?

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I had a great weekend. Besides soaking in the looooooong-awaited spring sunshine (spring!! it's SPRING!!!) I finally got around to spending my Anthropologie gift-cards from Christmas and my birthday. HOORAY. Shopping lately has been an interesting experience. I've stopped buying things based on whether or not I like them and more so on whether or not they seem inherently MINE. In Ashland, for example, I tried on a vintage pink twirly dress with yellow ribbon trim, and I knew it belonged to me. Whether or not I bought it (although I DID buy it)-- that dress simply belonged to me. Later I showed the dress to two of my students and they gasped in happy surprise. "We saw that, and we all said it looked like you!"

See? My dress.

At Anthropologie, one drapy shrug inspired me to twirl in the dressing room. If it inspires me to twirl: it's a Greta. Another intricate lace top sang a little Greta-tune. Yep: that's a Me.

I tried on a terrific green blazer, but it inspired no twirling, had entirely conventional buttons, and was undeniably practical. That one did not make it to the register.

It was not mine, see?

I've started applying this philosophy to people as well, which I'm sure is wholly off-base. In conversation with someone, I might think to myself, "What a nice person. What an intelligent, well-rounded person. But this isn't a Greta-type-of-person."

Most people aren't. Kindred spirits are rare for all of us, of course. Most of my friends are not Greta-people, but they are still dearly Greta-beloved.

Still, it's awfully fun to FIND a Greta-person. In those cases, even upon a first acquaintance, friendship seems inevitable. Because, clearly, we BELONG in the same habitat. We KNOW the same little tunes. We are the same rare species! Hallelujah.

I met some fun new people this weekend. Don't think any of them are Greta-people, but golly, are they fun people. When talking to new-friend-Andrew yesterday evening, we decided getting together that night wasn't going to work out after all. "But we'll see each other soon I'm sure," he said. "That's what new friends do, right?"

I like people so much.

And I love blooming crocuses and daffodils and cherry trees so much!!!