A friend sent me this article by Zinczenko & Goulding on the habits that make people fat. Kinda like it. Kinda hate it. Mostly hate it.
Habits 1-4 are pretty standard. Nothing too controversial. Get enough sleep, don't eat the free chips at Mexican restaurants.
I was excited to see that habit # 5 - Drinking pop -- even diet pop -- is a fat-producing habit. O.M.G. This is so me I can't even believe it. I have said this for ages. I drink WAY too much pop. I drink pop like my mom smokes cigarettes. It's definitely a bad habit!
Habits 6,7,8. . .yada yada yada.
But then we get to habit 9 - Ordering Combo Meals. This is the Happy Meal Debate all over again. Ordering combo meals does not make you fat. Eating combo meals makes you fat. There is a difference.
Habit 10 - Facing the buffet. Sigh. Look -- I know that most buffets are filled with fat people. But most fat people DO NOT GO TO BUFFETS. Seriously. We don't. You are beginning to piss me off.
Habits 11-15. Nothing notable.
Then we get to Habit 16.
Having fat friends makes you fat.
Wait -- WHAT?
So. . . my friend is fat because I am fat? Or I am fat because she is fat? What if she was fat when I met her? Is it our other friend's fault? WHAT?
Zinczenko & Goulding suggest "Rather than ditch a friend who starts to put on a few extra pounds though, suggest healthy activities that you can do together, and avoid letting him or her dictate the meal (“Let’s split the cheesecake!”)
Nothing says "I'm your friend!" like judging someones eating.
What, exactly is "dictating the meal"? "Hmmmmm. . .gee Michelle, I know you wanted the Buddha's Feast, but get the Kung Pao Chicken instead, OK? I'll be your best friend!"
I notice that in order to give credence to this premise, they quote research in the New England Journal of Medicine. Prestigious. I went to the New England Journal of Medicine to read the research for myself.
I found a synopsis of an article that I think they're using as data. The NEJoM synopsis does not list friends as a contributing factor, but the full text might. The full text of the article costs $15. I didn't buy it since $15 is roughly the cost of 12 Coke Zeros (which are keeping me fat, damn them!). If Zinczenko & Goulding used a different piece to justify their claim, I hope they will let me know.
I took stats last semester. Zinczenko & Goulding claim that having fat friends "ups your chance of obesity by 57 percent." If you look at the data in the NEJoM article, however, "other lifestyle factors associated with weight gain" are P<0.001. That is a very very small number. So my question is, 57% of what?
Could Zinczenko & Goulding be using the NEJoM's prestigious data to shock, amaze or enrage their readers? Look, I get it. You sell diet books and you want to sell more of them. By hurting and insulting fat people with your prestigious "research", you might be able to sell a few more.
Yawn.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Enough "Flair" Already. . .
A friend of mine is retiring at the end of this week, so we took her out to lunch.
She is one of those people who enrich your life because she is so one of a kind. She is funny. And creative. Kind of a spaz. She was at Woodstock -- yes the Woodstock. She's vegetarian, and she doesn't eat gluten. In South Texas, being a gluten-free vegetarian is difficult. In South Texas, chicken is considered a vegetable.
Since she is the retiree, we let her pick the restaurant.
I thought maybe she would pick a patchouli scented cafe where we could sip soy lattes with our falafel. I love falafel.
She picked P.F. Chang's.
We had a lovely lunch.
We laughed, we told stories, we listened to her plans for the future. The food was good -- she had brown rice with garlic spinach & some cucumber dish. I had Buddha's Feast ("feast" my ass -- it was brown rice and steamed veggies.), our dining companion had almond chicken. (Looked much feastier than my feast.). We drank flavored tea. We had teeny-tiny tiramisu shots for dessert. (Which made the whole thing worth it!)
The only problem?
The waiter.
I appreciate waiters. Two of my very very favorite bloggers are The Bitchy Waiter and FMT. Because of these wonderful writers, I try to be a good patron. I tip well and discipline my children. If my discipline is ineffective, I tip even better. I understand that waiting tables is hard, dirty work.
But this guy?
He wasn't incompetent. He was actually very considerate, polite and charming. He mixed special gluten-free sauces for my friend. He kept our drinks filled, he kept us up to date on the specials, he was pretty textbook "good waiter".
The problem?
He wouldn't leave us alone.
I know that P.F. Chang's is a corporate conglomerate where they refer to customers as "guests" and have very exacting standards for their waitstaff. If someone from Corporate was visiting, he would have gotten high marks.
But not from us.
When my friend said she needed gluten free, he grilled her about whether she had an allergy or simply a sensitivity. I finally had to say "She doesn't eat gluten. That's all that's important, ok?" (Now that I think about it, one of my mushrooms looked suspiciously like a loogie. . ) He interrupted our conversation three times to see if we needed more tea. (Our glasses were 3/4 full). He asked us several times if we had any questions on the sauces, and then did a presentation on the heat, the salt and the cooling effects of each sauce.
Because he was relatively charming and seemed to be "just doing his job", I didn't complain. I tipped 15%. I smiled, said thank you and didn't leave a mess. But P.F. Chang's? Your corporate needs to back off on your "guest services". And add a little soy sauce to the Buddha's Feast.
She is one of those people who enrich your life because she is so one of a kind. She is funny. And creative. Kind of a spaz. She was at Woodstock -- yes the Woodstock. She's vegetarian, and she doesn't eat gluten. In South Texas, being a gluten-free vegetarian is difficult. In South Texas, chicken is considered a vegetable.
Since she is the retiree, we let her pick the restaurant.
I thought maybe she would pick a patchouli scented cafe where we could sip soy lattes with our falafel. I love falafel.
She picked P.F. Chang's.
We had a lovely lunch.
We laughed, we told stories, we listened to her plans for the future. The food was good -- she had brown rice with garlic spinach & some cucumber dish. I had Buddha's Feast ("feast" my ass -- it was brown rice and steamed veggies.), our dining companion had almond chicken. (Looked much feastier than my feast.). We drank flavored tea. We had teeny-tiny tiramisu shots for dessert. (Which made the whole thing worth it!)
The only problem?
The waiter.
I appreciate waiters. Two of my very very favorite bloggers are The Bitchy Waiter and FMT. Because of these wonderful writers, I try to be a good patron. I tip well and discipline my children. If my discipline is ineffective, I tip even better. I understand that waiting tables is hard, dirty work.
But this guy?
He wasn't incompetent. He was actually very considerate, polite and charming. He mixed special gluten-free sauces for my friend. He kept our drinks filled, he kept us up to date on the specials, he was pretty textbook "good waiter".
The problem?
He wouldn't leave us alone.
I know that P.F. Chang's is a corporate conglomerate where they refer to customers as "guests" and have very exacting standards for their waitstaff. If someone from Corporate was visiting, he would have gotten high marks.
But not from us.
When my friend said she needed gluten free, he grilled her about whether she had an allergy or simply a sensitivity. I finally had to say "She doesn't eat gluten. That's all that's important, ok?" (Now that I think about it, one of my mushrooms looked suspiciously like a loogie. . ) He interrupted our conversation three times to see if we needed more tea. (Our glasses were 3/4 full). He asked us several times if we had any questions on the sauces, and then did a presentation on the heat, the salt and the cooling effects of each sauce.
Because he was relatively charming and seemed to be "just doing his job", I didn't complain. I tipped 15%. I smiled, said thank you and didn't leave a mess. But P.F. Chang's? Your corporate needs to back off on your "guest services". And add a little soy sauce to the Buddha's Feast.
 |
| Don't be this guy. . |
Friday, July 22, 2011
WHY I hate Weight Watchers
I am on Weight Watchers.
I hate it.
Everyone knows I am on Weight Watchers and everyone knows I hate it.
Everyone also thinks that I should just shut my big mouth and quit whining about it, even though everyone is too nice to actually say that to me.
I need to explain WHY I hate Weight Watchers.
I hate WW because it is SO gimmicky. Points. Power Foods. Stickers, charms, ribbons. Lifetime memberships. GAG.
Also, they treat everyone the same. My cousin recently lost 20 lbs in 3 months with WW. His wife lost 40 lbs in 13 months using another system. Know why he lost so much so fast? Because he is a man & they metabolize fat differently.
They do.
I get that there are lots of men who need to lose weight and WW might be a place where they can lose it. But do you know how much it sucks to be next to a guy who dropped 20 lbs in 3 months when it took me 6 months to do it? The way WW works, they don't really distinguish between men & women. Men get lots of "oh wows" and women get "keep trying!".
In addition, there is a HUGE difference between someone like me -- who has been fat my whole life and has been over 100 lbs overweight -- and someone who gained 30 lbs after she hit 30. We both need to lose weight, but I have a different health history, a different emotional experience, a different everything. WW does not recognize those differences.
Can I tell you how much it annoys me to hear "What worked for me was keeping my fruit cut up in the fridge." I am happy to hear that the little fruit trick works for you. But I did not gain 100 lbs because my fucking fruit wasn't cut up.
WW is all about sitting thru stupid meetings to "learn" about how to eat (puhleeze) and then clapping for every lb lost as if it were an achievement.
Weight loss is not an achievement.
It is a metabolic result.
I bet if you polled every fat person you see, each of them would tell you they tried weight watchers at least once. So why are they still fat?
Because WW is not a long term solution. It only works as long as you work it. It is not sustainable. I've said it before, but I have a real problem with a health care system that treats obesity as a character or vanity issue.
Weight loss is not covered by insurance unless you get a major organ removed. The US health insurance industry has left treatment of a major health crisis to a group of for-profit companies that are in the business of selling frozen foods, calorie calculators, water bottles and other paraphernalia.
I have been to weight watchers off & on for 40 years. I went to my first WW meeting when I was 5. They made me eat liver, and my mom had to make a different ketchup that I was supposed to eat. It tasted terrible. My mom felt bad that I had to eat liver & no one else did, so she made everyone eat what I was supposed to eat.
Mom tried to disguise the disgusting organ meat, so she chopped it in little pieces and mixed it in with spaghetti. We all cried.
Then my dad yelled at her for forcing his kids to eat liver.
All because my mom was looking out for me, and trying to get me to do what WW said was right.
I love you mom.
I hate you Weight Watchers.
I was most successful on WW before I got married. I lost about 30 lbs and went from a size 16 to a size 12. (Of course, my wedding dress was a size 20 but that's another blog.)
We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. I gained 5lbs. When I got back to WW, the meeting leader made me feel as if I had slept with her husband.
I haven't had much success with WW since then -- partly because they moved to this "points" bullshit. I've joined and quit about 4 or 5 times since I got married. So why am I back?
Because I know that WW is as effective as anything else out there, and it's pretty affordable. I am cussing my way through it, but I am going to go thru it. Goddamit.
I hope to have success. I just won't give WW the satisfaction of thinking THEY had anything to do with it.
Because they didn't.
I hate it.
Everyone knows I am on Weight Watchers and everyone knows I hate it.
Everyone also thinks that I should just shut my big mouth and quit whining about it, even though everyone is too nice to actually say that to me.
I need to explain WHY I hate Weight Watchers.
I hate WW because it is SO gimmicky. Points. Power Foods. Stickers, charms, ribbons. Lifetime memberships. GAG.
Also, they treat everyone the same. My cousin recently lost 20 lbs in 3 months with WW. His wife lost 40 lbs in 13 months using another system. Know why he lost so much so fast? Because he is a man & they metabolize fat differently.
They do.
I get that there are lots of men who need to lose weight and WW might be a place where they can lose it. But do you know how much it sucks to be next to a guy who dropped 20 lbs in 3 months when it took me 6 months to do it? The way WW works, they don't really distinguish between men & women. Men get lots of "oh wows" and women get "keep trying!".
In addition, there is a HUGE difference between someone like me -- who has been fat my whole life and has been over 100 lbs overweight -- and someone who gained 30 lbs after she hit 30. We both need to lose weight, but I have a different health history, a different emotional experience, a different everything. WW does not recognize those differences.
Can I tell you how much it annoys me to hear "What worked for me was keeping my fruit cut up in the fridge." I am happy to hear that the little fruit trick works for you. But I did not gain 100 lbs because my fucking fruit wasn't cut up.
WW is all about sitting thru stupid meetings to "learn" about how to eat (puhleeze) and then clapping for every lb lost as if it were an achievement.
Weight loss is not an achievement.
It is a metabolic result.
I bet if you polled every fat person you see, each of them would tell you they tried weight watchers at least once. So why are they still fat?
Because WW is not a long term solution. It only works as long as you work it. It is not sustainable. I've said it before, but I have a real problem with a health care system that treats obesity as a character or vanity issue.
Weight loss is not covered by insurance unless you get a major organ removed. The US health insurance industry has left treatment of a major health crisis to a group of for-profit companies that are in the business of selling frozen foods, calorie calculators, water bottles and other paraphernalia.
I have been to weight watchers off & on for 40 years. I went to my first WW meeting when I was 5. They made me eat liver, and my mom had to make a different ketchup that I was supposed to eat. It tasted terrible. My mom felt bad that I had to eat liver & no one else did, so she made everyone eat what I was supposed to eat.
Mom tried to disguise the disgusting organ meat, so she chopped it in little pieces and mixed it in with spaghetti. We all cried.
Then my dad yelled at her for forcing his kids to eat liver.
All because my mom was looking out for me, and trying to get me to do what WW said was right.
I love you mom.
I hate you Weight Watchers.
I was most successful on WW before I got married. I lost about 30 lbs and went from a size 16 to a size 12. (Of course, my wedding dress was a size 20 but that's another blog.)
We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. I gained 5lbs. When I got back to WW, the meeting leader made me feel as if I had slept with her husband.
I haven't had much success with WW since then -- partly because they moved to this "points" bullshit. I've joined and quit about 4 or 5 times since I got married. So why am I back?
Because I know that WW is as effective as anything else out there, and it's pretty affordable. I am cussing my way through it, but I am going to go thru it. Goddamit.
I hope to have success. I just won't give WW the satisfaction of thinking THEY had anything to do with it.
Because they didn't.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Gotta Share This
Sometimes I read something that makes me think that everyone in the world needs to read it too.
Like today.
I started by reading one of my favorite bloggers ChiTownGirl. Best name ever, yes?
Read this post: http://iteachkdg.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-have-no-words.html
Of course, that post sent me to this post: http://www.mouthyhousewives.com/wtf/mouthing-off-the-racist-vaginas/comment-page-1#comment-307140
I have nothing to add, really. Just OMG.
O.M.G.
Like today.
I started by reading one of my favorite bloggers ChiTownGirl. Best name ever, yes?
Read this post: http://iteachkdg.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-have-no-words.html
Of course, that post sent me to this post: http://www.mouthyhousewives.com/wtf/mouthing-off-the-racist-vaginas/comment-page-1#comment-307140
I have nothing to add, really. Just OMG.
O.M.G.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Good Thing It's Not About Looks. . .
Many people work out so they can look fitter, skinnier, prettier.
I have said all along that my goal is NOT about how I look, but how healthy I am.
What is important is good blood, fit joints and strength.
Not looks.
Good thing. 'Cause this ain't pretty.
I have said all along that my goal is NOT about how I look, but how healthy I am.
What is important is good blood, fit joints and strength.
Not looks.
Good thing. 'Cause this ain't pretty.
 |
| Dips. I am balancing on one heel and dipping my fat ass then pulling it back up. Couldn't do these in High School. |
Friday, July 15, 2011
Starving Scorpion
Dear Weight Watchers:
Today is day four of the new Points Plus! for me. With all the fruit at Zero Points! I'm eating my Power Foods! And I'm Fucking Starving!
Your website says "Try adding more fiber to fill you up!" and "Don't forget to drink your water!"
I say "I'm still Fucking Starving!"
I hate you. See you on Tuesday.
From,
The Starving Scorpion
Dear Vic:
Last night was my 3rd Leadership Fitness Challenge!
Ricky made us do the Scorpion. That was a new one. We had to plank from our elbows, then lift our right leg and bring it over our left leg. We had to do that 20 fucking times, then we had to switch legs.
This morning, I figured out why it's called the Scorpion. It stings your ass like crazy.
Sorry for being cranky, I am starving and my ass hurts.
See you tomorrow.
Love,
The Starving Scorpion
Today is day four of the new Points Plus! for me. With all the fruit at Zero Points! I'm eating my Power Foods! And I'm Fucking Starving!
Your website says "Try adding more fiber to fill you up!" and "Don't forget to drink your water!"
I say "I'm still Fucking Starving!"
I hate you. See you on Tuesday.
From,
The Starving Scorpion
Dear Vic:
Last night was my 3rd Leadership Fitness Challenge!
Ricky made us do the Scorpion. That was a new one. We had to plank from our elbows, then lift our right leg and bring it over our left leg. We had to do that 20 fucking times, then we had to switch legs.
This morning, I figured out why it's called the Scorpion. It stings your ass like crazy.
Sorry for being cranky, I am starving and my ass hurts.
See you tomorrow.
Love,
The Starving Scorpion
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
I Don't WANNA!
"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. "
Mark Twain
And so I grudgingly went to weight watchers today. Or, as I like to call it, weight-fucking-watchers.
I don't want to.
I don't like it.
But I am.
Last year, when I participated in the fitness challenge, my goal was healthy blood. Previously, I had high blood pressure and my bloodwork came back dangerously close to diabetic. I have 3 young children. Avoiding diabetes is a priority.
Today, my blood is great. Exercise has made an awesome difference.
This year, my goal is really good joints.
Kinda makes me sound like a stoner, don't it? I've never been much of a pot smoker, but if it is good for my knees, maybe I should try it.
Or maybe, I will just go to weight-fucking-watchers to help me drop the weight that I haven't dropped with exercise.
Have I mentioned that I HATE weight watchers?
Maybe once. Or twice.
But weight watchers, with all it's stupid gimmicks, meetings, and products, happens to be very effective. Which just pisses me off even more.
So I went to a meeting today.
They have a "new" system. It's another stupid program where you calculate how many points you have to eat in a day and then figure out how many points are in everything you eat, and then write everything down.
It's gimmicky. It's stupid. It's corny.
But having a target and writing things down is effective. That part isn't stupid.
The leader - a little old lady who lost 15 pounds on weight watchers 40 years ago -- took me through a chart where she cheerfully said things like "We're going to teach you how to eat healthfully!" and "You can eat anything you want, as long as you calculate the points!" I restrained myself from announcing that I already know how to eat healthfully, but knowing and doing are two different things. Instead, I rolled my eyes like a thirteen-year-old through the whole thing.
Then she said "And with the new system, all fruits and vegetables are ZERO points! Isn't that great?!"
To which I churlishly replied: "I always knew I didn't get to be a size 24 because I ate too many friggin' bananas". (I said friggin' because even I object to swearing at old ladies.)
On the plus side, I will always have something to kvetch about in my blog.
Even tho I don't wanna.
Mark Twain
And so I grudgingly went to weight watchers today. Or, as I like to call it, weight-fucking-watchers.
I don't want to.
I don't like it.
But I am.
Last year, when I participated in the fitness challenge, my goal was healthy blood. Previously, I had high blood pressure and my bloodwork came back dangerously close to diabetic. I have 3 young children. Avoiding diabetes is a priority.
Today, my blood is great. Exercise has made an awesome difference.
This year, my goal is really good joints.
Kinda makes me sound like a stoner, don't it? I've never been much of a pot smoker, but if it is good for my knees, maybe I should try it.
Or maybe, I will just go to weight-fucking-watchers to help me drop the weight that I haven't dropped with exercise.
Have I mentioned that I HATE weight watchers?
Maybe once. Or twice.
But weight watchers, with all it's stupid gimmicks, meetings, and products, happens to be very effective. Which just pisses me off even more.
So I went to a meeting today.
They have a "new" system. It's another stupid program where you calculate how many points you have to eat in a day and then figure out how many points are in everything you eat, and then write everything down.
It's gimmicky. It's stupid. It's corny.
But having a target and writing things down is effective. That part isn't stupid.
The leader - a little old lady who lost 15 pounds on weight watchers 40 years ago -- took me through a chart where she cheerfully said things like "We're going to teach you how to eat healthfully!" and "You can eat anything you want, as long as you calculate the points!" I restrained myself from announcing that I already know how to eat healthfully, but knowing and doing are two different things. Instead, I rolled my eyes like a thirteen-year-old through the whole thing.
Then she said "And with the new system, all fruits and vegetables are ZERO points! Isn't that great?!"
To which I churlishly replied: "I always knew I didn't get to be a size 24 because I ate too many friggin' bananas". (I said friggin' because even I object to swearing at old ladies.)
On the plus side, I will always have something to kvetch about in my blog.
Even tho I don't wanna.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Another year of AWESOME!
Today we began the SECOND ANNUAL LEADERSHIP FITNESS CHALLENGE!
The Leadership Fitness Challenge is where it all started for me. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who say "This changed my life!". So I am not going to say that.
I will say that this enriched my life. With fitness, yes, but also with friends, challenges and new kinds of fun.
This time, I am the leader for my College because our president has one of those schedules that makes you tired just to look at it. He would do it, but I decided that I would be the leader this year because I KNOW I can make all the workouts and I really want to beat Spohn Hospital. Not that I am competitive or anything.
I was looking at some shots from the very first LEADERSHIP FITNESS CHALLENGE.
Let's just say that I've come a long way.
Here's to a new year of awesome! And to beating Spohn Hospital!
The Leadership Fitness Challenge is where it all started for me. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who say "This changed my life!". So I am not going to say that.
I will say that this enriched my life. With fitness, yes, but also with friends, challenges and new kinds of fun.
This time, I am the leader for my College because our president has one of those schedules that makes you tired just to look at it. He would do it, but I decided that I would be the leader this year because I KNOW I can make all the workouts and I really want to beat Spohn Hospital. Not that I am competitive or anything.
I was looking at some shots from the very first LEADERSHIP FITNESS CHALLENGE.
 |
| This was after I fell off this damn thing but had to get up and pretend it didn't hurt. Becasue I was embarassed. |
Here's to a new year of awesome! And to beating Spohn Hospital!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Evil Twin? Just Evil.
I am not proud of myself for writing this.
I am not proud of myself for thinking it.
It's petty, insecure, catty and downright mean.
I am going to write it anyway. And hope my mom doesn't read it because she would be ashamed of me.
I'm going to criticise someone's clothes.
Not someone famous. In my opinion, if you are a "celeb", your fashion choices are fair game. Don't like it? Then quit your job.
The person I am going to criticize is a normal person. Actually, I wouldn't call her normal. I think she is one of the bitterest, angriest people I have met in a long time. I have been her acquaintance for about 4 years, and she has ALWAYS been bitter and angry. And she has always had horrible taste in clothes.
Let me paint you a picture.
This woman is probably in her 60's. She doesn't color her hair. She wears it in a very severe pageboy, which probably looked fine on her when she was 8. At 60ish, it looks horrible. She also doesn't wear makeup, but to be fair, she has lovely skin. She's tall, and she's big. I would put her at a size 26.
Normally, I will not criticize a plus size woman's clothes or style because I understand the challenges in buying stylish plus size clothes. But she is so bitter and angry. And mean.
Also, she doesn't like me. She thinks I am a Pollyanna. She actually used the word "Pollyanna".
Of course, to someone as negative as her, even Bill O'Reilly is a Pollyanna.
Also, she hates conservatives. She said so.
She was a young woman in the 70's, when going natural was very "in". She obviously doesn't care about being "in" any more. Why should she? She is in her 60's. When I am in my 60's, I will not care about being "in". At least I am assuming that I won't care about it. Who knows, maybe I will. Regardless, I completely accept anyone -- especially someone in their 60's -- who doesn't care about being "in".
I normally don't criticise her clothes because even though she is obnoxious, her lack of style isn't really of interest to me. But yesterday. O. M. G.
Yesterday, I went to a meeting and this big tall woman with the steel-grey pageboy was wearing a frilly (frilly!) pepto-bismol pink top, pepto-pink pants and matching shoes and socks. Pink. PINK! Really, really, really pink. This on a person that seems to hate the color pink on principle.
She looked like angry cotton candy.
It occurred to me, as I was listening to her vent her spleen for the umpteenth time, that she and I are very alike, but very opposite.
We are both big, strong women. We are both pretty bright. We are both well educated. We are both readers. We are both moms. We are both forceful personalities.
It's just that we are so different:
She hates change. I thrive on it.
She is angry -- on purpose. I'm not -- on purpose.
She is suspicious. I am trusting.
She hates conservatives. I am conservative.
She is a bitter atheist. I am a joyful Catholic.
She doesn't care about style. I do.
She buys something because it fits, regardless that she looks like hell in it. I will go naked rather than buy something unflattering.
I couldn't help but think that my violent reaction to her outfit says more about me than about her.
Why does it bother me so much?
Are we more alike than I want to admit? Are we secretly twins? Am I looking at my future when I see her?
I hope not.
Please, God, anything but pink.
![]()
I am not proud of myself for thinking it.
It's petty, insecure, catty and downright mean.
I am going to write it anyway. And hope my mom doesn't read it because she would be ashamed of me.
I'm going to criticise someone's clothes.
Not someone famous. In my opinion, if you are a "celeb", your fashion choices are fair game. Don't like it? Then quit your job.
The person I am going to criticize is a normal person. Actually, I wouldn't call her normal. I think she is one of the bitterest, angriest people I have met in a long time. I have been her acquaintance for about 4 years, and she has ALWAYS been bitter and angry. And she has always had horrible taste in clothes.
Let me paint you a picture.
This woman is probably in her 60's. She doesn't color her hair. She wears it in a very severe pageboy, which probably looked fine on her when she was 8. At 60ish, it looks horrible. She also doesn't wear makeup, but to be fair, she has lovely skin. She's tall, and she's big. I would put her at a size 26.
Normally, I will not criticize a plus size woman's clothes or style because I understand the challenges in buying stylish plus size clothes. But she is so bitter and angry. And mean.
Also, she doesn't like me. She thinks I am a Pollyanna. She actually used the word "Pollyanna".
Of course, to someone as negative as her, even Bill O'Reilly is a Pollyanna.
Also, she hates conservatives. She said so.
She was a young woman in the 70's, when going natural was very "in". She obviously doesn't care about being "in" any more. Why should she? She is in her 60's. When I am in my 60's, I will not care about being "in". At least I am assuming that I won't care about it. Who knows, maybe I will. Regardless, I completely accept anyone -- especially someone in their 60's -- who doesn't care about being "in".
I normally don't criticise her clothes because even though she is obnoxious, her lack of style isn't really of interest to me. But yesterday. O. M. G.
Yesterday, I went to a meeting and this big tall woman with the steel-grey pageboy was wearing a frilly (frilly!) pepto-bismol pink top, pepto-pink pants and matching shoes and socks. Pink. PINK! Really, really, really pink. This on a person that seems to hate the color pink on principle.
She looked like angry cotton candy.
It occurred to me, as I was listening to her vent her spleen for the umpteenth time, that she and I are very alike, but very opposite.
We are both big, strong women. We are both pretty bright. We are both well educated. We are both readers. We are both moms. We are both forceful personalities.
It's just that we are so different:
She hates change. I thrive on it.
She is angry -- on purpose. I'm not -- on purpose.
She is suspicious. I am trusting.
She hates conservatives. I am conservative.
She is a bitter atheist. I am a joyful Catholic.
She doesn't care about style. I do.
She buys something because it fits, regardless that she looks like hell in it. I will go naked rather than buy something unflattering.
I couldn't help but think that my violent reaction to her outfit says more about me than about her.
Why does it bother me so much?
Are we more alike than I want to admit? Are we secretly twins? Am I looking at my future when I see her?
I hope not.
Please, God, anything but pink.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Time to Move On
July 5th the Verdict came out.
People were pissed.
I'm pissed.
Not because she wasn't convicted by the jury. That doesn't bother me. She's been convicted by the court of public opinion and that is pretty harsh. Good luck getting a job, honey.
I'm pissed because of the profiteers.
There are creeps who are going to offer her ungodly amounts of money to tell her story. They will make her come across as some misunderstood heroine who was simply overwhelmed by a tragedy and behaved badly. Or as a poor, lost soul who is a victim of (insert social pathology here). Or maybe even as a calculating monster. Whatever sells.
Like a lot of people, I posted this on my facebook status:
For those of us who are outraged at this jury verdict, there is something we CAN do. DO NOT buy any book, magazine, or movie ticket for anything that the Anthony family publishes in order to make money off of this whole tragedy. I copied this...pass it on. I sooooo agree don't let them profit please!!!!
But what about those who have been profiting all along?
What about those who have been selling this story to us since the beginning, grisly detail after grisly detail? They have been stirring up the nation's wrath, because it's easy to generate outrage.
I am tired of being outraged.
I don't care that Arnold had a love child.
I don't care about Tiger's divorce.
I am bored of the royal wedding, and cynically waiting for their first fight so that I can be manipulated into siding with one or the other.
Wikileaks, oil spills, global warming & same-sex marriage? Meh. Who cares?
I can pledge never to watch a Kasey Anthony movie, which is no stretch for me because I wouldn't have watched it anyway.
What I can't pledge is to never watch the coverage to begin with.
How many hours have I followed this? How many Papa John's commercials have I seen while waiting for the next sordid details? How many Subaru ads have I seen? Glade Plug ins? AT&T Wireless?
The honest truth is, I am going to keep feeding the beast. I'm blogging about it, aren't I?
Kasey Anthony is not important.
I need to remind myself what is important:
My faith
My family
My country
My city
My friends.
And I need to move on.
People were pissed.
I'm pissed.
Not because she wasn't convicted by the jury. That doesn't bother me. She's been convicted by the court of public opinion and that is pretty harsh. Good luck getting a job, honey.
I'm pissed because of the profiteers.
There are creeps who are going to offer her ungodly amounts of money to tell her story. They will make her come across as some misunderstood heroine who was simply overwhelmed by a tragedy and behaved badly. Or as a poor, lost soul who is a victim of (insert social pathology here). Or maybe even as a calculating monster. Whatever sells.
Like a lot of people, I posted this on my facebook status:
For those of us who are outraged at this jury verdict, there is something we CAN do. DO NOT buy any book, magazine, or movie ticket for anything that the Anthony family publishes in order to make money off of this whole tragedy. I copied this...pass it on. I sooooo agree don't let them profit please!!!!
But what about those who have been profiting all along?
What about those who have been selling this story to us since the beginning, grisly detail after grisly detail? They have been stirring up the nation's wrath, because it's easy to generate outrage.
I am tired of being outraged.
I don't care that Arnold had a love child.
I don't care about Tiger's divorce.
I am bored of the royal wedding, and cynically waiting for their first fight so that I can be manipulated into siding with one or the other.
Wikileaks, oil spills, global warming & same-sex marriage? Meh. Who cares?
I can pledge never to watch a Kasey Anthony movie, which is no stretch for me because I wouldn't have watched it anyway.
What I can't pledge is to never watch the coverage to begin with.
How many hours have I followed this? How many Papa John's commercials have I seen while waiting for the next sordid details? How many Subaru ads have I seen? Glade Plug ins? AT&T Wireless?
The honest truth is, I am going to keep feeding the beast. I'm blogging about it, aren't I?
Kasey Anthony is not important.
I need to remind myself what is important:
My faith
My family
My country
My city
My friends.
And I need to move on.
Monday, July 4, 2011
I LOVE THIS COUNTRY
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
Sunday, July 3, 2011
I Cry at Weddings
Yesterday, Greg & I went to a wedding of a dear friend of mine.
I remember when she met her husband. I remember how happy he made (makes) her.
It made me cry.
I cried at the homily. I cried at the Ave Maria. I cried at the vows. I cried at the final blessing.
Then I went to the reception.
I cried at the toast. I cried at the father-daughter dance. I cried at the mother-son dance.
I can't help it. It was beautiful.
I haven't been to a wedding in a very long time. This wedding was really, really great.
The pianist at the mass was world renowned musician Lee Gwodz. This is the guy that the Pope has over to perform at Christmas. And he lives in my town. And he also works out with me. So he usually sees me sweating in a skort. I didn't wear a skort to the wedding.
When I went over to say hello, he told me I looked gorgeous. He meant it. Kinda made the day that much better for me.
Between the wedding and the reception, Greg & I went for a drink. We were all dressed up, in a restaurant with no kids. It was a date. A fun, flirty, fantastic date. We reminisced about our wedding and talked of our future. He did the little things that make me swoon -- held my hand in the street, opened my door, helped me into the truck. . ."boyfriend" stuff. Only we've been married for almost 19 years.
At the reception, we spent time with awesome people. You know how you go someplace like church or the grocery store or someplace and you see people there who you know by sight but you've never actually met? There was a couple there who goes to our church. Their kids are older than our kids, so we aren't in the same circles. We finally introduced ourselves and you know what? We like them. We like them a lot. We are definitely going to be friends with them.
We also saw friends that we just don't get to see enough. They are "our" friends, but in all actuality, they are "my" friends because I am the one who really knows them. They were in my leadership class -- that is how I know the bride -- and they know Greg, but they don't really know Greg. Greg is polite and pleasant but he is not naturally outgoing. Everybody likes him, but not everybody "gets" him.
And that was the best part of the evening. As we talked and joked and laughed, they got to know my Greg.
Then we started dancing. No one is surprised when I dance crazy, but Greg doesn't come across like a party animal.
He totally is.
And the more we danced, and laughed, and danced some more, the more my friends were falling in love with Greg. They got to see him the way I know him -- fun and silly and up for anything. It was so awesome to see that realization on their faces.
I love weddings. They make me cry.
I remember when she met her husband. I remember how happy he made (makes) her.
It made me cry.
I cried at the homily. I cried at the Ave Maria. I cried at the vows. I cried at the final blessing.
Then I went to the reception.
I cried at the toast. I cried at the father-daughter dance. I cried at the mother-son dance.
I can't help it. It was beautiful.
I haven't been to a wedding in a very long time. This wedding was really, really great.
The pianist at the mass was world renowned musician Lee Gwodz. This is the guy that the Pope has over to perform at Christmas. And he lives in my town. And he also works out with me. So he usually sees me sweating in a skort. I didn't wear a skort to the wedding.
When I went over to say hello, he told me I looked gorgeous. He meant it. Kinda made the day that much better for me.
Between the wedding and the reception, Greg & I went for a drink. We were all dressed up, in a restaurant with no kids. It was a date. A fun, flirty, fantastic date. We reminisced about our wedding and talked of our future. He did the little things that make me swoon -- held my hand in the street, opened my door, helped me into the truck. . ."boyfriend" stuff. Only we've been married for almost 19 years.
At the reception, we spent time with awesome people. You know how you go someplace like church or the grocery store or someplace and you see people there who you know by sight but you've never actually met? There was a couple there who goes to our church. Their kids are older than our kids, so we aren't in the same circles. We finally introduced ourselves and you know what? We like them. We like them a lot. We are definitely going to be friends with them.
We also saw friends that we just don't get to see enough. They are "our" friends, but in all actuality, they are "my" friends because I am the one who really knows them. They were in my leadership class -- that is how I know the bride -- and they know Greg, but they don't really know Greg. Greg is polite and pleasant but he is not naturally outgoing. Everybody likes him, but not everybody "gets" him.
And that was the best part of the evening. As we talked and joked and laughed, they got to know my Greg.
Then we started dancing. No one is surprised when I dance crazy, but Greg doesn't come across like a party animal.
He totally is.
And the more we danced, and laughed, and danced some more, the more my friends were falling in love with Greg. They got to see him the way I know him -- fun and silly and up for anything. It was so awesome to see that realization on their faces.
I love weddings. They make me cry.
 |
| Here's wishing Beth and Bert the same happiness that we've had for 19 years! |
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