L' Object Du Désir

A story about love, craziness, comic cons and flirting with fame.

In honor of the day that somehow ties the patron saint of bees and secret weddings to the selling of chocolates, here’s a true story for lovers.

Yep. It’s all 100% true.

It’s perfectly expected that interlopers will try to come between a new relationship. I just didn’t expect that the interlopers would be so high profile …or threatening.

But I guess I should have expected I’d be in for a wild ride from the first moment I caught this tigress of love by the tail.

I’ve been clutching to that tail now for almost 25 years. Sure, I get dragged through the occasional bramble and mud wrestling pit, but overall I don’t regret one moment of the crazy adventures I’ve had with my lovely wife.

After all, when it comes to love isn’t a bit of craziness a necessary ingredient to any healthy relationship? One part madness, one part euphoria and a few cups of sanity help glue the passion all together.

I wish I learned that recipe a bit earlier in life. It probably would have saved me from a divorce and few other sticky situations. However looking back on it now, I mark it as all part of a lucky journey that guided me to my “Beshert.”¹

I think most people can find their soulmate, so long as they don’t think it’s an immediate process. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t.

It just takes tenacity and the fearless will to toss yourself off the cliff of loneliness to make that one initial connection with someone. You have to fall without any preconceptions that you’ll land directly in soulmateville.

Float with the currents. Let the wind catch you and twirl you. Eventually the gusts may knock enough sand out of your head to realize the most important person in your life has been sitting right next to you all along, or is one blind date away.

Be fearless and a little crazy.

Just don’t be too crazy because instead of a box chocolates, you’ll only get a sheriff with a restraining order knocking on your door.

If you feel you’re too reserved for expressing lunacy, then let me tell you from experience, go seek out a bit of a nut. You need to desperately break free from your self-imposed confines.

Heck without the crazy adventures my wife supplies or drags me into, I’d be living a very boring mundane life, and the comics I’d make would be lame Dilbert knockoffs.

OK, Enough old mansplaining about love.

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In case you were wondering if any of my comic was bullshit, here’s Frank Gorshin with a special Photo Phunny.²

Photos by Alex North.

I had a photo of Mr. Gorshin flipping me the bird while he was giving my gal a squeeze but unfortunately I’ve been unable to locate it. Perhaps Frank’s ghost took it to his grave.

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Further suggested studies on types of love.

Normally I’d use this space to suggested other Substacks, but today I’m breaking things up a bit with suggestions of movies that will get you thinking about other types of love and relationships.

All That Breathes - A phenomenal documentary that shows the wonder and love for nature amidst ecological devastation, the virtues of compassion and the human capacity to make the world better.

The Mole Agent - A documentary that’s a meditation on elderly isolation and loneliness and the friendships that can spring from it. As hard as the film is to watch at times, it is also pretty magical in reminding us all about the need for greater familial love.

Netflix’s ‘Taco Chronicles’ - If there’s one thing I love it’s a damn good taco. Watch this 6 episode series and tell me you’d don’t want to immediately book a trip to Mexico for some tasty fish tacos.

If you’ve seen any of these movies or shows I’d love to hear your take on them.

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That’s all from me my friends I hope you have a lovely week and find your object of desire be they man, woman, trans, or a nice meal at an all-you-can eat buffet.

Cheers,

Ed

1. Beshert is Yiddish and can refer to any fortuitous event but most often means a soulmate: the one person whom an individual is divinely destined to marry.

2. In case you youngins don’t know, Frank Gorshin was a comedian who played The Riddler in the Batman series from the 1960s.