There are lots of things I love in this world: fireplaces, the color red, pick-ups on gravel roads, how church smells like lilies and incense at the Easter Vigil, chicken salad and sleeping with the windows open.  

I also love my living room, Audrey Hepburn’s classiness, black and white, and my grandparents’ era, when men wore suits and hats and women wore high heels and pearls.

I love that my sister knew I needed a red phone, all things vintage, and the “Curse Not Thine Fat” sign I bought for a quarter and whose meaning I still can’t quite figure out.

I love turquoise, retro chicken mugs, and an ice bucket that just begs for someone to throw a party to put it to good use.

I love colors, cooking, my kitchen, and having a house full of people over to enjoy all three.

I love being Lutheran, my prie dieu, and how robust the baptized life can be.

I love hot pink, big earrings, and how a mini shutter and a can of spray paint can change a girl’s outlook on what to wear to work each morning.

I love remembering my grandma, how much I value our few pictures together, how often she cut off our heads taking pictures with these cameras, and how she giggled about it later.

I love setting a pretty table, covering it with food, and the way in which I was formed and shaped by the conversations my family had over dinner (that’s Iowan for “supper”).

I love listening to rain, skyping with my sisters, and watching my dad make my mom laugh until she has tears in her eyes. I love Florida-Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” Holy Week, and being a godmother to six of the most Lutheran little Lutherans I know.

I love it all.

I just can’t help it.