The best of the blog, courtesy of...well, you guys

I often insist the comment trails you guys leave on my blog posts are infinitely smarter, funnier, and more clever than the posts themselves.

Now that my schedule has eased up enough to let me jump into the comment trail dialogue again, I’m even more convinced.

Here’s a collection of some of my favorite snippets from this week’s posts…

The suckhole that soaked my pants & exposed my weakness

There were plenty of funny comments in response to my post about losing my glasses in a giant suckhole, but the most helpful was this comment from Lindsay:

First of all, LOL. Second of all, zennioptical.com. SERIOUSLY. Xo

Holy crap! How have I never known about this website that allows me to buy unlimited glasses for as low as $6.95 a pair (plus $4.95 shipping for the whole order)? For cheapskates like me who lose or break glasses frequently, this is a godsend. Thank you!

Then, of course, you can leave it to one of the male readers to focus on the most important line from the original post. Jason wrote:

I'm sorry - I can't get past "potential nutsack frostbite." That is so not cool. Or maybe it is. Yikes.

Does the shoe fit you now?

This may be my favorite comment trail from any post I’ve ever written, and a lot of your insights had me in tears. Here are some of your wonderful comments about what comes after the happily ever after:

Shakespeare wrote:

With your book, the main conflict is resolved, along with several other subplots... all resolved. Readers aren't wondering whether the two main characters will have 82 children and raise them on some tropical island... they want to know how their relationship forms now, and helps resolve the mess they've gotten themselves into.

The "ending" is another book entirely, and is not necessarily a romance novel, since it would be dealing with a whole other set of dramas (or perhaps their life is just blissfully happy, and thus pretty gooey-sicky-sweet and boring).

Michelle Miller wrote:

We live in cynical times, and many of us have lost faith in 'happily-ever-after', but as my own relationship enters it's 21st year (my husband will tell anyone who listens that our marriage is finally old enough to drink) I have enough experience to say that the 'happy' part of 'ever' doesn't mean that we're blissful every moment. It means that no matter how much he ticks me off during the day, there's still no one I'd rather have in bed with me at night. All relationships end, if nothing else, some day one of us is going to have to bury the other. It is all the stuff that happens in between now and then that matters.

Alex and Juli sailing off into the sunset together isn't an end, it's a beginning, and it leaves me wondering what happens next.

Bethany Elizabeth wrote:

I do think about the rest of characters' lives a lot. That's the best part. Falling in love and getting married is a beautiful story, but in my experience, it's the real-life afterwards stories that change you, make you stronger. It doesn't always end happily, and I don't think that literature really pretends it does. A lot of books get criticized for happy endings - 'it never works that way in real life' - but the fact of it is that it does. Then it changes. We fall in love just like in the books. Then the hardships kick in.

Literature realizes that, immortalizes it, and makes sure we understand that just because something is over, it doesn't mean it was a mistake. It means our next 'mistakes' will be better, bigger, and more worth making.

And as always, we can count on Patrick Alan for a different perspective:

This is why I prefer Fantasy novels rather than straight romance. In a Fantasy novel, the dude saves the world AND gets the girl. Who cares if she goes crazy in a year or two, he saved the freakin' world!!!!

A few hours later, he added this:

What do you want from me? Pick up my socks? My socks are that important and so heavy that you can't pick them up? Are they as important as two years ago when I SAVED THE FREAKIN' WORLD? You picked up my socks then? Why is it a freakin' big deal now? You only like me when I am saving the freakin' world?

Fine! Fine! I'll save it again. I'll go release all those dragons and let them rain down hell and then when you're sure we're all going to die, I'll come kick their asses!

'Cause I am done talking about stupid socks!!!!

I got rammed and had an evil thought
Yesterday’s post generated some thought-provoking discussion about my experience getting rammed in the McDonald’s parking lot. Was it awful that I had a fleeting thought about not admitting my bumper was already damaged? Would it have mattered if the other driver was belligerent instead of kind? Here are some of your thoughts:

Matthew MacNish wrote:

There are no evil thoughts, only evil actions. The mind comes up with all kind of depravities, but no matter what kind of person you are, there's nothing wrong with them unless you act on them.

Shannon wrote:

Dude, if I shared all the evil thoughts I have throughout the day, I'd be institutionalized in a red hot minute.

Leave it to Patrick Alan to jump all over that:

I’m afraid of Shannon.

Me too, Patrick. Me too.

Thank you to everyone who voiced concern about any long-term damage to my car or my person, including Sierra Godfrey who offered excellent advice for anyone in a fender bender:

Tawna, no one else said this but it needs to be said: you may not know if there's further damage to YOU or your car until later, and it's imperative you trade insurance info anyway. I'm glad you did rather than just drive off but it's possible damage will surface later--this happened to me after getting hit by a red light runner and my car looked fine. Except its wheels were knocked off the shafts (giggle) and I had to be towed after driving a half block. Never would have known that initially. Glad you're ok. I expect you'll be bruised in the days to come.

Do you have any favorite comments or discussion points from this week’s posts? Please share!