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"I love you"

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2009.11.18

The Boy's learned to say a passable "I love you".

Way back in the dim recesses of my memory there was a time before I was a father. Somewhere in there, Mari and I got married and had a reception. And at that reception we were given (by the people who ran the venue, I believe) a plush toy made of two frogs connected by a stout string. When the frogs are pulled apart from each other, the string retracts and a recorded voice chirps "I love you".

The Boy was playing with this toy this morning. He brought it over to me, pulled the string a couple of times, and told me, "I love you".

rand()m quote

It has always seemed strange to me...The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

—John Steinbeck, Cannery Row