Of all things

Good news! I picked up exercising. And when I say exercising, I mean getting tired while doing simple tasks. The altitude here makes it hard to believe. Fact, scientists say that it is harder to breathe in Quito, Ecuador, than it is under water. Fact, my last fact was made up. I did however complete my first daily run today. Maybe it will be a monthly run, I don’t know. A close friend and I ran up and down the “colina” three times. A “colina” is a steep hill. Every time that we were running up it, I thought I was going to die. Then on the way down I thought, this isn’t so bad, lets do it again. Shortly afterwards, I had to go buy a new lung.
It just so happens that when I run, I do two other things. I hum “they’re coming to America” and I think about things. Todays topic was the phrase “I love you”. How nice it is to hear those words, especially from someone that you feel the same way about. I was thinking about the first time it was said. I bet it was really akward. The receiver probably did not know the rule that you should say it back…so they just stood there…loving…and being loved. Then I thought, it probably wasn’t spoken in my normal language. It was probably spoken in the language that Jesus spoke- King James English! Verily I Lovest thou. Still akward. Then again, maybe it was first spoken by cavemen. But they did not have the same connection between love and the heart. Maybe their symbol for love was more like a goat. Then, when they go visit a neighboring village, like stick or rock(Both bustling metropolises of the cave world), they would buy a shirt that said “I Goat rock”. If they were really ambitious and they wanted to tell a woman that they cared, maybe they would give them a sheep? Either way, I imagine this caveman telling this cavewoman how cool her beard was.
People have known for thousands of years about this love thing. They did not always know what it was. Kind of how, we still don’t know what it is. But they did know that it came from deep inside. Very deep to them. In the same way that we say, “I love you with all of my heart” biblically they say, “I love you with all of my bowels”. How sweet? The bowels or the guts. This is akin to saying, “I love you with all of my being, more than myself”. It is actually a very high compliment. And will probably catch on.
When I arrived in quito, I was wearing a tie. This has earned me the nick name “El Mormon”. Yesterday I went to the Mitad del mundo. The middle of the world. And quite literally, I straddled the equator. How cool? I also poured water down a drain in the northern and southern hemispheres. It flows in opposite directions! Directly on the equator itself, it goes straight down. Things are going quite well here. I read a lovely letter from my fiancé. One of many that she wrote me before I left. I am going to breakfast in 2 minutes.
But remember, I goat you all, with all of my bowels.