Dear Readers, 

 

Happy New Year! Happy Ground Hog Day! Happy President’s Day! Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy... Snow Days? If you are like me, you are looking out the window at the obligatory snow-apocalypse we have here in Williamson County — and have come to expect at some point after the first of the year. And, if you are like me, you are scratching your head wondering where all those big plans, big resolutions, big goals, set in the throes of the thrill of a new year, went. Well…after a week stuck inside with the kids, after only JUST getting back to school, back to work and back to normal… One’s brain returns to binge TV mush pretty quickly, and away from all those formidable goals. 

 

Alas, I keep reminding myself that the new year is just a date, just a block on a calendar we use as a benchmark for our improvement, clarity and life betterment, annually. But the reality is that those things can actually happen any time, any day and even during a snowstorm. So, don’t lose hope and don’t lose sight of those big new year’s plans.

 

Rather than wax poetic on the snow, or the new year — I leave you here, with a bit more inspiring words…of love — much more in keeping with this issue in the season of Valentine’s Day and filled with our annual bridal content; in the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). Her Sonnets from the Portuguese, which she dedicated to her husband Robert Browning, were written in secret before their marriage and published in 1850. Critics generally consider the Sonnets one of the most widely known collections of love lyrics in English and her best work. Enjoy.

 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

 

— EBB

Shelly Robertson Birdsong 

Publisher | Editor-in-Chief 

shelly@robertsonmediagroup.com