<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/lovelist5.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-513" title="lovelist5" src="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/lovelist5-538x403.jpg" alt="" width="538" height="403" /></a></p>

<p style="text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;"><em>Today's post, the sixth in my Friday <a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=472">Love List Project</a>, is written by Lance Ekum. Lance, creator of  <a href="http://www.jungleoflife.com/">The Jungle of Life</a>, was one of the first bloggers I connected with after throwing myself blindly into Twitter and the blogging world. I feel lucky to have crossed paths early on with someone who is so inspiring, encouraging and generous.
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<p style="text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;"><em>Lance not only embraced #thelovelist idea from the very beginning, he also wrote <a href="http://www.jungleoflife.com/2009/09/29/what-is-love-really/">a post</a> about it on his blog—as of today, the post has garnered 83 comments! Clearly Lance has gathered a community of big hearts and open minds around him, and I'm honored to have him sharing here.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">________________</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">by Lance Ekum</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“One touch of nature makes the while world kin.â€ ~ William Shakespeare</strong></em></p>
When I read Kristin's first post about the concept of a <a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=472" target="_blank">Love List</a>, I was drawn in by this idea that focused around the idea of publicly claiming what we love in our lives. How often do we go through our days not fully acknowledging those things/moments/people that really touch us in some special way? Well, as I thought about it...for me, it's far too often that I just take for granted all that which I really do love.

Kristin and I talked about the concept of the love list, and after that I wrote, in general terms, what this <a href="http://www.jungleoflife.com/2009/09/29/what-is-love-really/" target="_blank">meant to me</a>. And I thought a lot about what triggers that feeling of love—from my family, to the smell of  coffee in the early morning hours...

One thing that came up when I originally wrote about the love list, was fog—more exactly, the settling fog on a cool autumn evening.

My thoughts go back to a certain September evening, just as soccer practice was getting done. And how we, as a team, watched as the fog started to magically settle into pockets on the field, just as practice was culminating.

Picture this with me. A still evening. The sun is just setting on a picture perfect autumn day. Sports fields that are now mostly empty. A slight chill in the air. The evening dew settling upon the blades of grass, moist to the touch. And then picture a child, maybe a couple of them, drawn in by this magical lightness of something white and fluffy, appearing seemingly from out of nowhere. In little pockets strewn throughout the field, this fog is there, settling in.

<strong>There’s something about this fog that feels especially magical, almost surreal.</strong>

Fog always has that draw for me. It’s just, I’m so much more used to seeing fog in the early morning hours, light outside, the fog rising—all of which is still very magical. This moment, though, it was different. It was the evening “settling of the fog.â€ Coming in to rest, to stay the night, on those fields—in the stillness, the darkness, the peacefulness.

I love the mystery it evokes. I love the peaceful harmony in which it rests upon the ground beneath.
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<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>"Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved." ~ Søren Kierkegaard</strong></em></p>
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All that makes me think more deeply about my life. Does this settling evening fog mean something? Something more than the mystery it evokes? Perhaps.

See, I start to think about the mystery within my heart...as things began to "settle" there. <strong>Much like that fog on a cool September night, if I stop and take in with wonder that which settles upon my heart, I'm drawn to the magical feel of my heart connecting with something greater</strong>...something meant to settle there. Settle there, stay the night or maybe many nights. Stay until my heart is ready...ready to embrace the mystery and give it flight...much like the rising fog in the early morning hours. To come full circle, settle upon the heart, then rise and show its colors...

It’s easy to come here and talk about the love we have for family members, for some material possessions, for life. Today, though, let's set these aside for just a moment, as important as they are. Today, I ask each of you—what part of our natural world do you love? Nature is a very connecting force for so many. What makes that connection for you?
<p style="text-align: center;"><a title="Obscured" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/2861197593/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2861197593_141f7eb524.jpg" border="0" alt="Obscured" /></a></p>
<small><a title="Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.jungleoflife.com/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" border="0" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="viking_79" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/2861197593/" target="_blank">viking_79</a></small>