Sparklers(09.22.2013)

“Are you always this effortlessly smooth?”, she asks with a sparkle in her eye.

“It’s easier with good company around”, I throwback as we both laugh sitting there across the water having dinner, 3272 miles away from home.

The interaction is fun. We will both walk away feeling a little bit better about ourselves.

I will be the suave debonair guy. She will be the designated head turner — in our little movie that we are self-directing.

The movie is called Flirting.

Flirting means “to court without intent.” By the very definition of this word, flirting is harmless.

Flirting is fun. It’s playing. It’s social interaction with luster, with a gleam.

Flirting is a lot like a sparkler: an innocuous, delightful display of light.

A sparkler has no real purpose. It doesn’t illuminate a room. It barely emanates heat. It’s playful and enchanting and does not need meaning beyond its ephemeral, radiant dazzle.

It means people can flirt with you — and that you can flirt with people — and mean nothing by it.

Flirting is one of the many beautiful things humans do just because they can.

There is nothing inherently deeply suspicious about flirting. It’s not cheating. It’s not the beginning of a relationship although it can very well become one.

It does not express intent. It has no meaning.

It goes nowhere.

I know all this because I’m a flirt at times and my activity is, I promise –

Devoid of intention …