What are your favorite emojis? – So ask the Daily Writing prompt.

I’m into real emotions, not emojis. Try living life outside that smartphone or computer. There isn’t an emoji for what I feel when I enter Arlington National Cemetery. There isn’t an emoji for the thankful feeling or how much I love my wife and children.

There isn’t an emoji for the level of hell I’ve raised with friends and how much fun we have had. There isn’t an emoji for something beautiful I see in nature. There isn’t an emoji for how much I enjoy eating Maryland crabs this summer.

There isn’t an emoji for what I feel when I dance or play air guitar. I haven’t seen an emoji that comes close to pulling a big fish into the boat way out at sea. There isn’t an emoji for the feeling of a wheelie on a motorcycle or a 145 mph speed run.

There isn’t an emoji for being told you have cancer that I’ve seen. There isn’t an emoji for going around a corner on a warm sunny day with the top down in the Miata or the motorcycle or pulling onto Ocean Highway and smelling the salt air and warm breeze.

I could go on with other great and brutal emotions, but EMOJI’s don’t hold a candle to the real thing. Try creating your own. I do it with pictures.

This question sucks (sorry to complain writing prompt person). I don’t use them much at all and I rarely pay attention to them. I’m old school if you haven’t noticed.

Hey, if you are happy about something tell me about it, I’d love to hear the details. If you’re sad and need support pick up the phone and tell me to come over. I’m into communication, not guessing.

My apologies for the long rant. Short answer below.

I use the heart occasionally when texting my children or wife a bit. But I’m using the words, “I love you” to my wife and children in addition to that heart. Maybe sports-themed one or two to my son, I can’t remember.