When I sit in silence
with nothing but my thoughts for company,
my consciousness for comfort,
I feel,
palpably,
that something is missing.
For years, I didn’t know what that was.
An absence of goals and dreams?
A lack of purpose?
No connection to a single home,
a stable identity?
The theories behind my inadequacy came and went –
childhood trauma,
young adult depression,
laziness without ambition,
not enough gratitude.
Now I know better.
The thing that’s missing,
the lack of which makes me feel
this unbearable loneliness and deep-seated longing,
is You.
You who created me
and loves me like no other.
You, who are with me,
even when you’re not,
who gifts me moments of work and rest,
glimpses of transcendence and treachery.
Despite all that you have blessed me with –
family, friends, multiple homes, diverse experiences, a world of beauty and amazement –
nothing compares to…

Her bare legs wrap around his denim-clad waist. He grasps her hips on the tailgate of an old pickup truck. But this is no spontaneous encounter. The moment has been meticulously framed. Surrounding the backside of a lean male we see a small section of surfboard, a hint of nearby ocean, a lock of female hair, and the text “#Equipped to be true” inserted across the bumper like a virtual sticker, forever on top of the imagery. Instead of sweetening the seaside, a location synonymous with romance, Levi’s paints a gritty, down-home picture. An alternative idealization stakes its claim as the genuine article.

Given the context presented by Levi’s, being true means being faithful to a romantic partner but also being faithful to reality. Reality tells us that beaches are not always sunny, but it also tells us that a pair of jeans and fidelity of character are two different…