Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Are we too busy?
Thoughts from Rob Bell - Originally posted here
Do you often find yourself saying, "I'm so busy" or "I just have so much to do"? It's easy to get overwhelmed with appointments, gatherings, to-do lists. But what are we really doing with our time? Many of us are running from place to place and it seems like life is just passing us by. We're doing so many things, a little bit of everything, and yet it doesn't feel like much of a life. But most of us find it hard to say no. We feel obligated. There are so many good things to do. So many good causes to join. But while we're busy doing all these good things, are we missing out on something great? Maybe saying no would be easier if we knew what it meant to say yes.
Do you often find yourself saying, "I'm so busy" or "I just have so much to do"? It's easy to get overwhelmed with appointments, gatherings, to-do lists. But what are we really doing with our time? Many of us are running from place to place and it seems like life is just passing us by. We're doing so many things, a little bit of everything, and yet it doesn't feel like much of a life. But most of us find it hard to say no. We feel obligated. There are so many good things to do. So many good causes to join. But while we're busy doing all these good things, are we missing out on something great? Maybe saying no would be easier if we knew what it meant to say yes.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
East Coast Storms Make History
Preliminary seasonal records for the 2010 Winter Storm and Blizzard events that began February 5thcontinuing through February 11, 2010 break snowfall records established 100 years ago. Official snowfall totals for the Metropolitan Washington DC area are as follows: Washington National Airport saw 55.9 inches, breaking the record set in 1898 of 54.4 inches; Thurgood Marshall Airport in Baltimore had an official snowfall of 79.9 inches, breaking a 1995-96 record of 62.5 inches at Dulles International Airport, the snowfall record of 61.9 inches set in 1995-96 was broken with this year’s total of 75.0 inches. For the first time in at least 30 years, the U.S. Postal Service did not deliver mail on Feb 6 and Feb 10.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Keeping a Marriage Alive - WSJ.com
The Wall Street Journal recently did a piece on "Keeping a Marriage Alive" presumably in honor of valentines day. It's a great article, they interviewed several couples (Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Doyle and Louise Brunson, etc.) and asked how they managed to beat the odds and stay married after all these years.
"It is often possible to understand why a marriage fails, as so many do. It is much more difficult, though, to elucidate why one succeeds. Why do some couples thrive, while others fizzle or flame out, despite their best intentions?"
The author asked their parents, who just celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary, why their marriage lasted so long. My dad said he had no idea. "Your mother did all the hard work," he admitted. Mom agreed, and divulged her marital secret: "forgiveness."
BILL & MARLENE CRITCH - Find the middle ground
Another couple, Marlene and Bill Critch said, "It's all give and take," Marlene met her husband Bill on a blind date in 1959. He took her on a picnic with a thermos of gin and tonics; they married two months later. Flash ahead 50 years. The Critches have raised two daughters in Seattle and weathered his severe heart condition. They swim together each morning, and he reads her children's books when she has trouble falling asleep at night. Compromise, they say, got them through the good and bad times.
"If each person can give 75 percent, you've got 150 percent," says Ms. Critch. Her husband agrees. "Many men would call that wussy," he says. "But I don't because I value her more than anything else in the world."
KEN & JACKIE EGAN - Be funny
On the night in 1967 that Jackie and Ken Egan met at a dance club in Boston, he asked her for a kiss. She declined: "I don't know you," she told him. "And my kisses are like Lay's potato chips—you wouldn't be happy with just one."
"You need to learn to find the humor in each other's annoying habits. It helps you keep the affection," says Ms. Egan, 69.
DOYLE & LOUISE BRUNSON - Keep (some) secrets.
"...she accepted him for who he is. "Love is the most important thing," says Louise Brunson, 78. "You have to love your spouse more than life itself."
OZZY & SHARON OSBOURNE - Never, ever give up.
"I went into marriage thinking it was forever. So I was stubborn," says Ms. Osbourne who has three children with her husband.
ANONYMOUS - Stay Alive
My sister, a doctor, told me about one of her patients, a 92-year-old woman who showed up for her appointment with her husband, who is 94. They said they have been married for almost 70 years. My sister, highly impressed, asked the couple the secret to their union's longevity. And they looked at each other for a long moment. Then the wife spoke: "Eh, neither of us died."
Makes me wonder what MY parents would say after 28 years.
"It is often possible to understand why a marriage fails, as so many do. It is much more difficult, though, to elucidate why one succeeds. Why do some couples thrive, while others fizzle or flame out, despite their best intentions?"
The author asked their parents, who just celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary, why their marriage lasted so long. My dad said he had no idea. "Your mother did all the hard work," he admitted. Mom agreed, and divulged her marital secret: "forgiveness."
BILL & MARLENE CRITCH - Find the middle ground
Another couple, Marlene and Bill Critch said, "It's all give and take," Marlene met her husband Bill on a blind date in 1959. He took her on a picnic with a thermos of gin and tonics; they married two months later. Flash ahead 50 years. The Critches have raised two daughters in Seattle and weathered his severe heart condition. They swim together each morning, and he reads her children's books when she has trouble falling asleep at night. Compromise, they say, got them through the good and bad times.
"If each person can give 75 percent, you've got 150 percent," says Ms. Critch. Her husband agrees. "Many men would call that wussy," he says. "But I don't because I value her more than anything else in the world."
KEN & JACKIE EGAN - Be funny
On the night in 1967 that Jackie and Ken Egan met at a dance club in Boston, he asked her for a kiss. She declined: "I don't know you," she told him. "And my kisses are like Lay's potato chips—you wouldn't be happy with just one."
"You need to learn to find the humor in each other's annoying habits. It helps you keep the affection," says Ms. Egan, 69.
DOYLE & LOUISE BRUNSON - Keep (some) secrets.
"...she accepted him for who he is. "Love is the most important thing," says Louise Brunson, 78. "You have to love your spouse more than life itself."
OZZY & SHARON OSBOURNE - Never, ever give up.
"I went into marriage thinking it was forever. So I was stubborn," says Ms. Osbourne who has three children with her husband.
ANONYMOUS - Stay Alive
My sister, a doctor, told me about one of her patients, a 92-year-old woman who showed up for her appointment with her husband, who is 94. They said they have been married for almost 70 years. My sister, highly impressed, asked the couple the secret to their union's longevity. And they looked at each other for a long moment. Then the wife spoke: "Eh, neither of us died."
Makes me wonder what MY parents would say after 28 years.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
"The harassment of obligations"
"...ordinary life, and what James calls the harassment of its obligations, is what has plagued me. The house, the cars, the commute, the job, the [husband]—they have not given me the peace in which to collect any thoughts. Sometimes it just all catches up with you."
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
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