A friend of a friend of mine found her ideal man in the freezer compartment of her Frigidaire.
 
Seriously.
 
A couple years after her husband died, this gal composed a list of all the qualities she wanted in her next love. She tucked the list in her freezer and then signed up for a dating site.
 
The first man who replied met all of her requirements. A year or two later, they moved in together. And he is the love of her life.
 
I’d call that dating with chilling efficiency.

 
My dad seemed too smart to read thrillers. And yet, he raced out to buy every new Michael Creighton release.
 
I considered his choices as simple-minded Hardy Boys’ mysteries on steroids.
 
Until I started reading thrillers.
 
A cerebral Louise Penny mystery will trap me indoors, even on a sunny day. New author Jane Harper, recently ambushed me with terror in the Australian countryside as I read The Dry. Sarah Pinborough bored me a little with her character’s shallow, lovey dovey talk in Behind Her Eyes but the ending terrified me. Deliciously.    
 
For my book club, I’m now reading Candace Millard’s The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, an account of Roosevelt’s punishing trip down the Amazon River.
 
It’s OK. But I’m guessing it won’t keep me up at night. 

 
I wanted to read Nancy Drew mysteries all summer. Mom wanted me out of her hair.
 
Go knock on doors. Find friends. Breathe the outside air.
 
I hated it. But I probably learned more outside the house than I did inside. I joined a rec softball league and learned to be the worst player on a team. I hung out with a girl whose dad raced stock cars and learned engines were another path to a man’s heart.
 
And I also learned to lie to my mother. At least once a week, I biked to the library and read all day and breathed the delicious musty air of books.

 
I fell so hard for this fabric purse that I returned to where I first saw it and bought it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That’s usually a good sign.
 
But my love for its darling turquoise patches and zipper bauble ended soon after I used it for one day.
 
I felt like I was hauling around a pillow.

 
Arms are usually longer than they appear.