Life today means waking up every morning and immediately checking the headlines for overnight catastrophes:

• Has the country has gone to war (yet)?
• Has a mass-casualty crime been committed?
• Who at the highest levels of government has quit/resigned/been fired?
• Which high-visibility media figure is doing something egregiously stupid or hostile?
• Was there military posturing short of war?
• What about natural disasters?

...and every morning, life goes on.Love means waking up in the limbo between night and dawn with fear turning your whole heart into a cold, sweaty knot because your lover is sleeping so still and quiet you can't tell if they're still breathing. And so you touch them--every-so-gently-with the tips of your--fingers to make sure they haven't died in their sleep....and every time, they're alive and your heart relaxes and you burrow in close for a cuddle.Pursuit of happiness means pausing to relish every sunset, appreciate every moonrise, celebrate every cuddle, taking not one second of life or love for granted.Joy is the offspring of life and love, a precious, fragile concept born in patient pursuit and conscious effort. Chase it with all your might, every second of every day and every night.That's what's on my mind today.This post's picture brought to you by a snowstorm walk through the Chicago Botanic Garden a winter ago, between Spouseman's surgical recovery & the start of his radiation treatment. Still cancer free, as of the most recent test.