“Sometimes me think, what is love? And then me think love is what last cookie is for. Me give up the last cookie for you.”

So said Cookie Monster, who turned out to be quite the wise sage. The inherent concept is a great gauge of our relationships, their frailties, and how confident we feel within them. While I’d freely give my last cookie away…I can’t think of anyone at all who would do that for me. Even those who profess to love me. And doesn’t that pretty much says it all?

Which brings us to the question: Is it wrong to let that bother us? Should we love freely, and not let ourselves be bogged down by some great big blackboard tally? Is generosity something that should be metered in return value? Is that just bad karma? Or is it only fair — and justified - to want to be cared about as much as we care? To get out of the universe what we put into it?

I like to think we can propel that magic big cookie to be returned by ourselves doling out the biggest, fudgiest one we can. But that just may be setting me up for a bigger disappointment, ultimately.

Oh well. Who needs cookies anyway.