Making It Plain

 Jenifer Lewis, a well known actress for many years and co-starred in the popular (yet cancelled) sit-com, Black-ish , made an interesting statement that assisted with the misunderstood notion written in these next few sentences. Aside from the "colorful" language and mannerisms that makes her the actress she is, she said something like, "look at yourself in a mirror. Who do you see? Once you get passed the tears, you have to love who you are." The misunderstood notion: you should never be a lover of yourself. Now, the task Ms. Lewis mentions would seem pretty elemental (look at yourself in the mirror). The question she says is pretty obvious (who do you see?). The direction though had me scratching my head wondering, if this would be necessary in these days and times (you have to love who you are). Aren't we past this point and ready to get our teeth into the meat and potatoes of a relationship already? And the answer is sadly, no. Why? In talking about dating...

Last week I went to the store to purchase some lotion (among a few other things). I went to the aisle where I knew it would be and saw it. Just before picking it up, right next to my usual brand, there was the store version with a sale price underneath it. It was $2.00 cheaper and was buy one get one free. How bad could the store brand be? I chose it but in picking it up, I saw there was the only one on the shelf. Still, putting it into my cart, it was $2.00 cheaper. Finishing the rest of my shopping, I went to the cashier. When he got to my lotion, I told him of the dilemma to quickly fix the problem. He ran the price checker over the bottle and said, "You're right." Did he do what I thought he was going to do? Call the stock person in the back to supply the demand and bring a bottle to the front? No, instead of reaching for the phone, he picked up a laminated paper, with some writing on it and said to me, " What I can do is reduce the price even further." He...