The hundredth post. I remember back in my comic collecting days, where the next must have issue after the first, was the hundredth. Who knows if this will be such a post? Does it matter? To whom?
The path and vibe of this blog has changed since I started it last year, and I've decided that it's for the better. I'm being me versus someone else, so it works.
To Chris Guillebeau's point (Google "Art of Non-Conformity" for a proper intro to Chris G.), there's no point trying to be someone other than oneself. One, it can't be sustained. Two, if you ever get found out, you'll be vilified for admitting you were pretending to be someone else.
I learned almost a decade ago that (as a writer) you never, ever know what piece of writing you do that will strike a chord with people. However, I do know this. If that writing lit you up when you were writing it...odds are, it'll light up the reader too.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Cancer
It's the time of Cancer if you are into the zodiac. I've also just discovered I have two people close to me, who have cancer. An odd thing. Both people, I haven't spoken to in a long time. Both are two very different people with different ways of dealing with adversity.
Cancer not unlike it's great-grandfather, death, is a substantial equalizer. No matter who you are, or where you are from, when you get the diagnosis, I don't suspect you can buy, talk, or seduce your way out of it. Like Nitrogen in the atmosphere, it just is.
Since I've yet to have cancer, I'm going on supposition rather than personal experience. Kind of like knowing someone who's had sex, versus having sex oneself.
What will help me be useful to my two people is that I have had someone close to me deteriorate, and eventually die of a terminal illness. I listen more than I talk. I pray from them. I asked them to call me if they want to talk. When I tell them I'll call them, and I do. It's also really easy to do that"..as we forgive those to trespass against us" part of the Lord's Prayer. I also keep living with them; and if they do depart before I do, I live better because of them.
Cancer not unlike it's great-grandfather, death, is a substantial equalizer. No matter who you are, or where you are from, when you get the diagnosis, I don't suspect you can buy, talk, or seduce your way out of it. Like Nitrogen in the atmosphere, it just is.
Since I've yet to have cancer, I'm going on supposition rather than personal experience. Kind of like knowing someone who's had sex, versus having sex oneself.
What will help me be useful to my two people is that I have had someone close to me deteriorate, and eventually die of a terminal illness. I listen more than I talk. I pray from them. I asked them to call me if they want to talk. When I tell them I'll call them, and I do. It's also really easy to do that"..as we forgive those to trespass against us" part of the Lord's Prayer. I also keep living with them; and if they do depart before I do, I live better because of them.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Some Thoughts On Abundance
There is enough...
- money in the world
- time in the world
- work to do in the world
- love in the world
- food in the world
- square footage of living space in the world
- water in the world
- belief in the above
- distribution
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Marathon That Is Marriage
Yesterday, I took one of those Facebook notes (i.e. questionnaire) the spouse of a former co-worker sent to me. This one was different, and titled: Your Marriage. It was a series of whos, whats, and whens about the sender's marriage with the request that the recipient reciprocate, and then tags some friends as well, to keep the ball rolling.
This was the first time I had to really recollect things like our first date, when did we get serious, who asked who out, etc. The affect it had on my psyche was that of a cool, summer evening breeze, after a hot afternoon.
I was transported back for a moment to those heady days (and nights) of courtship, and felt like a teenager again. We are in our fifth year of marriage and with two young children. It's easy for the daily hustle and flow of life to become just a routine one gets used to over the years.
Marriage to me is like a marathon. I'd like to think of our beloved Boston Marathon in particular. It starts beautifully and full of promise in Hopkington, MA, and the finish in Boston can feel like a spectacular triumph, or just the end of a very long and painful journey. Of course, in between you have Heartbreak Hill, named for a good reason; break it or it breaks you.
Unfortunately, most marriage participants don't have the structured training and preparation the average marathoner does. These days, to get past any multiple of four years in marriage is a feat in itself, not to mention stick together long enough to drive the kids to college.
Me? I just past my first multiple of four. The first milestone, years-wise. The honeymoon is long over and raising the kids is all consuming. Yesterday though, put some of that courtship sparkle back in my eye. The wind is at my back today, and I'm running downhill.
This was the first time I had to really recollect things like our first date, when did we get serious, who asked who out, etc. The affect it had on my psyche was that of a cool, summer evening breeze, after a hot afternoon.
I was transported back for a moment to those heady days (and nights) of courtship, and felt like a teenager again. We are in our fifth year of marriage and with two young children. It's easy for the daily hustle and flow of life to become just a routine one gets used to over the years.
Marriage to me is like a marathon. I'd like to think of our beloved Boston Marathon in particular. It starts beautifully and full of promise in Hopkington, MA, and the finish in Boston can feel like a spectacular triumph, or just the end of a very long and painful journey. Of course, in between you have Heartbreak Hill, named for a good reason; break it or it breaks you.
Unfortunately, most marriage participants don't have the structured training and preparation the average marathoner does. These days, to get past any multiple of four years in marriage is a feat in itself, not to mention stick together long enough to drive the kids to college.
Me? I just past my first multiple of four. The first milestone, years-wise. The honeymoon is long over and raising the kids is all consuming. Yesterday though, put some of that courtship sparkle back in my eye. The wind is at my back today, and I'm running downhill.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Wisdom From "Bird Nest"
Do good things, don't do bad things...The three-year-old understands this, the eighty-year-old has a harder time figuring it out.
This was an excerpt of a show I was watching on PBS today. So simple, yet so seemingly complicated.
This was an excerpt of a show I was watching on PBS today. So simple, yet so seemingly complicated.
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