This one is from Elizabeth Gilbert's new book, she of Eat Pray Love fame. I haven't bothered to get the new one, Committed, yet, but my mother sent me an excerpt. It's all about making peace with the sometimes-unsettling idea of promising to be with one other human being until the end of your earthly days, and in this particular section she talks about loving someone enough to want to protect them, even from yourself, if necessary. So she makes a list of what she perceives to be all her horrible faults, a "prenuptial informed consent," she calls it. This one, I'm just going to have engraved on some nice business cards and pass out to prospective friends and suitors.
"I have far more enthusiasm in life than I have actual energy. In my excitement, I routinely take on more than I can physically or emotionally handle, which causes me to break down in quite predictable displays of dramatic exhaustion. You will be the one burdened with the job of mopping me up every time I've overextended myself and then fallen apart. This will be unbelievably tedious. I apologize in advance."
