Oprah Who?

The theme of this month's issue of O, The Oprah Magazine is love. Which is ironic for me because it was the first time I've ever read that magazine. I'm actually not much of an Oprah fan at all. But my boss (who doesn't even know about this blog, for no reason other than I haven't told her about it) randomly handed me this month's issue. So I read it, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the theme was all about a subject I happened to be obsessed with.

The feature well consists of a collection of essays written by "thirteen gifted writers," most of whom have published a book at some point. Book writers are different from magazine writers in that their writing tends to be more emotional. So to have emotional book writers writing about the most emotional experience of all—love—was a brilliant move on the part of the O editors. (Seriously though, naming a magazine after your first initial? Could you BE any more vain? Sorry. But seriously.)

Anyway, check out the articles when you get a chance. Be warned, some of them are vague and metaphoric and, you know, Oprahfied. But each essay's approach on the theme is completely different from the other, and what I like about it is that they're not all about romantic love. One writer even talks about her love for a cat. Cats aren't really my thing (sorry cat people!), but the essay was so well-written that even I started to love the darn cat after awhile.

But my favorite article is one called "Does it Have to be Work?" by James Collins. He talks about how he and many people tend to focus on how difficult it is to be in a relationship, how everyone says it's "hard work." So his relationships have suffered because he goes into it with that mentality. But his essay concludes with a plea to bring joy back into relationships, like it was supposed to be. Somewhere along the way, our culture has lost sight of that joyful mentality. It's an interesting concept that will make you ponder. And I love to ponder, don't you?

I would like to think this is the last post in which I will endorse Oprah. But you never know. If I were writing this blog when Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah's couch in enthusiasm for Katie Holmes, I sooooo would have been all over that. So if something like that happens on her show again, yeah, I'm there.

Until then, I just might have to get a cat.