List of Favorites

Do you know what my favorite color is?  Well, it depends on the day and how I am feeling.  Sometimes it’s a bright red and many times something more demure.  Do you know what my favorite book is? Goodness, this is a hard one and a question that often got asked when I was earning my literature degree.  Much like many of my favorites it’s up for interpretation.  If it’s a novel I love Jane Eyre, if it’s poetry I love The Prophet, if it’s mythology The Epic of Gilgamesh, if it’s spirituality a good translation of The Bible, if it’s writings of the saints Story of a Soul…  In music – I enjoy an array of genres, artists and languages, sure nothing tops the Spanish classics I grew up listening, but I can equally enjoy anything from classical to pop.  Last night I had an hour drive to the venue where I was to watch “Little Women the Musical” and having so much time I started to think about how I have watched this play at least three times in the month of December in recent years.  The story is not even in my radar of favorites.  In fact, I remember not even liking it that much when I read it.  I just hated Amy getting Laurie, from my throne of judgement, I felt she didn’t deserve him…  Yet, my criticism on the novel was not what was stirring in my mind as I drove, rather it was this idea of favorites.  On one of the Ave Maria cruises I went on this girl made a comment that she didn’t think she could date a man who didn’t like country music, the sad thing is she was dead serious! 

When I was a teen I thought that knowing the list of favorites of the object of my affections meant that I knew him well- I blame popular culture and chick flicks for this!  Then again I am the one that paid to watch those movies (smile).  In every romantic comedy the moment would come when the guy would make a statement listing the other’s favorites to show that he got her, he understood her, he knew her, “I know you like cloudy days over sunshine, and pickles in your hamburger…”  The audience would swoon and little girls concluded that love meant knowing the list of favorites- but this girl grew up and discovered that a list of favorites doesn’t even penetrate the surface of love.  In one of the last scenes, “Small Umbrella in the Rain,” when Professor Bhaer declares his love for Jo they realize that their list of favorites is very different- but something deeper pulls them together.  Something more important.  Yes, its love, but it’s also in their differences they find each other interesting.

Growing up in the barrio and being a straight “A” student is not easy.  Enjoying reading the classics – well, just preferring books to television made me an outcast.  My list of favorites was never the same as those in my hood.  I caught on early and for many years I thought that because my likes were so different that I just needed to keep them to myself.  I felt like I wasn’t interesting because my list of favorites was so unusual.  When I was at family gatherings I didn’t know what to share because I felt so out of place in conversation.  I still feel like that sometimes - completely uninteresting.  Yet, with age comes self-acceptance and the realization that those lists of favorites are not important.  That we are all interesting when we see each other through the eyes of Christ and sharing the same faith, the same love for God is way more important than enjoying the same song (smile).