There is a series of cartoons out there called “Love Is…” and it involves a couple of androgynous naked toddler-like people that are captioned with “Love is…” and then some little saying or expression that people will alternately find trite and pithy, or sentimental and inspiring:

This cartoon has been around in various forms since, I believe, the 1970’s or so– possibly longer. I don’t know what the motivation is for the figures, perhaps an Adam and Eve comparison about pure and unspoilt emotion, but most of the cartoons I’ve run across over the years don’t seem to have particularly religious messages that would support such an overtly Biblical point of view. They’re mostly just kind of sappy. The two figures do seem to share an uncomfortably close physical resemblance, which adds a potential layer of creepiness in my opinion, but what do I know? I make jokes about lotion pits.

A quick Google Images search will show that there are multitudes of these comics, and also much more modern, up-to-date versions done in color and with graphics programs. I’m not sure I see why so much effort is made to keep these pictographic fortune cookie things up to the latest technology, but no harm is done. But if an up-to-date version is to be made, I will add my own spin on it, and say that true love means being willing to hold her hair back while she chunders mightily.

Tooth-brushing before smooching, though. Even the truest love has boundaries.

This seems a perfect way to bid adieu to the old year. Much about 2016 was purge-worthy. I hope you all had good New Years celebrations and 2017 turns out to surprise us with unexpected benevolence.