Waking Ear

The Carpenters/"We've Only Just Begun" -- This is one of the most chill love songs ever. There's very little sex, unless you count the "and when the evening comes, we smile" line. This is about people who are past that giddy first part of a relationship and just feel comfortable with each other, getting a little fat around the middle. OK, maybe that's not appropriate with the whole anorexia thing, but you know what I mean.

As I was telling Chelle and Girlfriend last night, I'm very familiar with the Carpenters because of anorexia. For four years, all through college, I dated a woman who had, and continues to have, so far as I know, a crippling, utterly bitter battle with the disease, along with other forms of mental illness, and she was a huge fan of Karen. I think women who are dealing with eating disorders can hear their pain in Karen's voice. I think I hear it too; even "Just Begun" sounds like a fantasy to her, a life she'll never lead because she's married to something much more sinister. Or maybe I'm just super-imposing context.