Thoughts on Life

This is, unfortunately, a loaded topic.

Life.

Specifically Life versus Choice.

A Twitter link to a blog post led to another and then finally to this. Which is from February of this year. It is an appeal to choice, and it is well written, and I find myself sympathetic to the writer.

In many ways, the author says that there is no "versus" in the argument of Life versus Choice. And certainly she thinks that there is no higher value than supporting a woman's choice, both to have a child and/or to have an abortion.

But is she right?

"I didn't make a mistake having my baby. And my friend didn't make a mistake not having hers. The right choice for me may not be the right choice for you and the right choice for you may not be the right choice for me and the right choice for Jamie Lynn Spears may be the wrong choice for you and your family but come on, now. Let's all have some respect for people's procreational choices."

I think one of the mistakes that the pro-life people have made over the years is that we have not trumpeted loud and long our support of women in unplanned pregnancies. We do, of course, have thousands of crisis pregnancy centers and other supports out there. Which do not, of course, receive anywhere near the funding that Planned Parenthood does.

But I can understand the focus on the baby. It seems like everyone else focuses on the mother: her decisions, her 'choices', her situation, the consequences of her behavior, etc. But in the discussion of choice, no one talks about the baby. And there are VERY few people as brutal as Camille Paglia is in her no-holds barred description of what abortion is:

As an atheist and libertarian, I believe that government must stay completely out of the sphere of personal choice. Every individual has an absolute right to control his or her body. (Hence I favor the legalization of drugs, though I do not take them.) . . . .

But the pro-life position, whether or not it is based on religious orthodoxy, is more ethically highly evolved than my own tenet of unconstrained access to abortion on demand. My argument (as in my first book, "Sexual Personae,") has always been that nature has a master plan pushing every species toward procreation and that it is our right and even obligation as rational human beings to defy nature's fascism. Nature herself is a mass murderer, making casual, cruel experiments and condemning 10,000 to die so that one more fit will live and thrive.

Hence I have always frankly admitted that abortion is murder, the extermination of the powerless by the powerful. Liberals for the most part have shrunk from facing the ethical consequences of their embrace of abortion, which results in the annihilation of concrete individuals and not just clumps of insensate tissue. The state in my view has no authority whatever to intervene in the biological processes of any woman's body, which nature has implanted there before birth and hence before that woman's entrance into society and citizenship.

Ouch.

No one wants to face the fact that the child who is aborted is a "who" not a "what". No one. Especially not a woman who has faced the awful choice of what to do when she is faced with an unplanned pregnancy which she doesn't think she is ready for. She is faced with raising a child that she doesn't believe she is capable to ready to raise. Or placing the child for adoption after carrying him for nine months and answering all the questions from all the people. Or killing that child at a very early age. What an awful choice.

And I repeat myself.

What an awful choice.

And why should she have to make that choice?

There SHOULD be more support for women caught in these crosshairs. Attitudes toward the consequences of sex should keep up with the attitudes toward sex itself. Attitudes toward pregnancy should keep up with the attitude people have about sex. No one should have even THOUGHT about commenting much less criticizing Bristol Palin's pregnancy. And the hypocrisy of many on the left (not all) in that regard was beyond disappointing.

Something we in the pro-life community need to learn, to do the opposite of what the 'choice' community does: treat the vicitims differently. The women need as much compassion as we give the babies. And if we do that well, then maybe the 'choice' community will give as much compassion to the babies as well as the women.

We have a hard battle ahead.

Tagged! I'm It.

So, Veronica tagged me for the "Seven Random Things about Myself" meme. And so, I think I am going to use it for this day's NaBloPoMo post. Because the other things I could write about are not going to cut it today.

So here goes, seven things you probably don't know about me:

1) I am (was) a big catalog reader. When we go down to visit my parents, inevitably beside the bed in my room is a big stack of her catalogs, for my nighttime reading pleasure. Some favorites are, Signals, Wireless (which I really think are the same), Bas Bleu (I could bankrupt us with this catalog), and Levenger (ditto). I don't have so much time to sit in front of the television and read catalogs now, or the energy to stay awake after crawling into bed. But I still like the idea.

2) I grew up evangelical non-denom (basically), converted to Catholicism after college, and am now Anglican. Ok, some people know that. Hmmmm. My Anglican church here in little ole' Virginia is part of the Church of Nigeria!

3) Preschool "stuff" makes me crazy (the "pictures" and crafts, etc.). It makes me crazy when the kids are making it (Jonathan goes to a co-op preschool). It makes me crazy to bring home pieces of construction paper that have wet paint and glue on them. And don't get me started on the Scholastic flyers.

4) I love makeup. All kinds. The cheaper the better. Which is why I just love E.L.F. The sad thing is that I don't bother with it on a daily basis (the whole kid thing), but I still buy it. Oh, and sparkly shiney makeup? All the better.

5) I could live on breakfast food and dessert. As long as there is plenty of bacon.

6) I used to chew on the ends of my hair. When it was longer and I was six years old. My teacher told me to stop or she would CUT. IT. OFF. I was so scared I couldn't even tell my mother. So I started biting my cuticles instead.

7) We moved to Virginia from Michigan when I was ten. But I said "y'all" so I was O.K. (My mom is a bona fide Virginian.) And from then on, every time we passed a certain little church outside of my little town, I said "that is where I want to be married." And I was, 24 years later.



And yes, the colors inside the church (except for the stone floors and plaster walls) are Tiffany Blue and Chocolate Brown.

So, seven random things....I am tagging only a couple of people, because I don't want to chase people away: Sherri (who might have done this before, but I suspect she can come up with more items), Carmen (to give her something else to post about this month!), Kristi ('cause I know her from pre-blogging days), and Meg ('cause she left me a comment once!).

Extreme Makeover - Toddler Edition

Ok, so I had so much fun yesterday putting up pictures for (nearly) the first time, that I thought I would try it again.

And this is kind of a lame post, but until I return from the Positive Discipline seminar at the preschool tonight, I don't have anything to blog about.

I was thinking about the ways that my child has changed so much in the past six or seven months. He went from being a baby to a little boy in a blink of an eye.



This is my angel baby at Christmas time last year. Too precious not to post.










And this is the day of his first haircut. I caved to the pressure, people. I had just HAD it with people talking about my beautiful little girl with her pretty curls. If you had a girl with hair like this, would you dress her in grey/red/black and camouflage? Well, maybe you would. But I would dress her in pink tulle ALL. THE. TIME. Anyway, I decided he needed a haircut.







So, post haircut, he doesn't look like a baby angel anymore, does he? Though I think he looks like he is going to get himself into some trouble, which is basically what he tries to do all the time these days!








And, finally, the transformation from toddler into (not-so-little) boy is complete. And he is STILL only two years old! (This photo is courtesy of The Picture People and Smilestore.)

Good thing I have another baby on the way....we'll see how long the new one can keep his curls!

International Babywearing Week!

This week is International Babywearing Week. And so, for fun, Stephanie is hosting a blog carnival for babywearing bloggers and links. I am going to try my best to participate, but y'all know my weakness with internet technical stuff.




We are fans of the babywearing thing. Jonathan really liked riding around in the Ergo, especially. Here is Marcus carrying Jonathan in the Ergo in April of 2007 (J was 8 months old or something at the time.)











And this is a closer up shot of the kiddo. You may or may not be able to tell that he liked to chew on the straps of the Ergo.










And to put things in perspective, this is how Jonathan currently likes to ride. I think our days of babywearing for THIS child are over. Conveniently, baby number two is well on his way, so we are all prepared for more babywearing. If you are interested in looking at some baby carrier options, check out here!

Today's sermon

Somehow the topic at church this week surprised me. It shouldn't have. This is the Sunday after a huge presidential election. But it has been a long week here at the Maher house and it seemed like it has been a YEAR since the election. Anyway, the title of the sermon, once I got over the surprise of the topic, did not surprise me. 2008 Election - A teaching moment.

Our Rector looks at most things as teaching moments. And he certainly does them well.

One of the many aspects of the "teaching moment" that especially hit me (and you could click on the above link to go take a listen yourself...well worth it. He has a New Zealand
accent which makes everything sound kindof posh) was this:

If you are either 1) Really happy Obama was elected and think that things are now going to be coming up rainbows; or 2) Really sad that Obama was elected and are worried that things are going to hell in a hand basket, then you need to rethink to whom you are trusting. We, all of us, need to be looking toward God, not to any man (or woman) for our salvation.

The second aspect of the sermon which struck me was the importance of discerning God's voice in the midst of "stuff happening" here on earth. For instance, often if life goes according to MY plan, I think it is God's will. But if something happens that goes against my wishes, I assume that it cannot be God's will. But God is sovereign. And sometimes His plan is inscrutable to me.

One of today's scriptures was Jeremiah 1:10. "See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

Our Rector made the point that we all want to "build and to plant" but that God requires, often, that things be uprooted, and torn down, and destroyed and overthrown, before something new can be planted and built.

And then he admonished us to be reconciled to each other as Christian brothers and sisters, some of whom share differing political opinions. And what a witness that will be. "And they will know we are Christians by our love."

NaBlaPoMo Day 8

Fail.

Why my husband is the best.

My husband's birthday was yesterday. And we tried to have a nice dinner. But our two y.o. son was feeling iffy and just couldn't/wouldn't sleep without "daddy hold you in the rocking chair". So, I think we each got about two hot bites of food in that marathon "put to bed" session.

Anyway, I have been thinking about all of the reasons that I love him and why he is perfect for me. Many of the reasons are in direct contradiction to "feelings" I may have had for someone else earlier in life.

We got married later than average, at least for me. I was 34 when we got married. I had just about given up finding "Mr. Right." In my twenties I went through of phase of settling for "Mr. Right Now", but that phase ended predictably. By the time I entered my thirties, I had finally settled on a career that was satisfying and had great potential (law). But I had kindof given up on finding an equally satisfying life partner.

And then I met Marcus.

Within just a few dates, I realized several things:

1) He actually really listened to me, tried to figure out my likes and dislikes, and what made me tick.

2) He had a grounded steadiness that was incredibly comforting. I knew that I could count on him.

3) He faithfully stuck by his word. If he said he would be there at 7:15, he was there at 7:15. That might seem like a small thing, but it is indicative of his faithfulness in all areas.

4) His faith was very important to him. He actively encouraged us to go to church. Together. (And he picked MY church!)

5) He has a weird, quirky, funny side to him that the vast majority of people never see, because he is quiet and reserved. When I discovered these little quirks, I realized that there were hidden layers to him that only I (mostly) would get to see. And that has been very fun over the past few years.

6) He is very smart, but doesn't feel the need to brag, like many do. I have to brag for him. For instance, when asked where he works, he will say, "the government" without mentioning that he is a lawyer. When people find out, and ask where he went to law school, he says, always, "In Boston." (And when I chide him for that, he says, with a grin, "Well, they asked where, they didn't ask what school."

I learned all those things within a few weeks. But those have been indicative of his character. So, while I am continually impressed that he seems to do things for me that are above and beyond what other wives might expect, I am not surprised.

I am seven months pregnant with our second child, and while I am in generally good health (thank you God!) I am woefully out of shape, and have a toddler to chase around. So I am super tired. And I feel like I complain all the time. But he doesn't. And suddenly I find that the dishwasher has been emptied and filled, and two loads of laundry done, all the while he has been working 80 and 90 hours a week. (And the trash regularly gets taken out, but that is a constant).

These past couple months have been really rough on him at work, yet every evening that he can, he rushes home, throws off his suit, and takes over with Jonathan. Who relishes his time with his father. I know that Marcus would rather put his feet up, but he runs the bath, finishes feeding the kid, and reads him story after story to get him to sleep. I tell some of my young friends never to underestimate the power of a man who loves his family more than his free time.

We both have strong opinions on a wide variety of issues, but somehow we have never had a fight. Sure, there are some disagreements, but I can't even think of something that rose to the level of an argument. And sure, there were some snippy moments when we were severely sleep deprived after our son was born, but that was just the sleep problem.

I think the reason we don't argue or fight is that we both go out of our way (more him than me) to make sure that we understand the other's position and thoughts and feelings.
And that is my definition of respect. We are more similar than we are different, and that probably helps, but the commitment to love and care for each other is still a choice. Which he makes freely.

I love you, sweetie. Happy Birthday.

Can random thoughts equal a post?

(Well, yes, if you have been reading any of my posts, it would seem that I specialize in "random thoughts".)

So, I am taking a page from Carmen's book and making a post of "random thoughts".

- Co-opping at my son's pre-school certainly puts the post-election haze into perspective. And pre-schoolers are hard! They don't put me in his class (2 y.o.) but with the 3 y.o.s. And I was in a class of all boys. Being 7 months (whatever - 32 weeks) pregnant and eight three year old boys is just hard work. My had is off to the teachers.

- Being heavily (and getting more heavy every day) pregnant makes everything else more difficult, like, you know, standing. Being woefully out of shape at the same time doesn't help matters.

- So, there is a staff member at the pre-school who looked like she could deliver ANY day. So, I asked the obvious question, and said it in what I thought was a self-deprecating sort of way, "so, you look like you are due before me, when is the big day?" And she said, "The beginning of February." I literally was speechless. My due date is January 1 (or December 31 as we keep telling the little guy). I think I caught myself before shoving the foot farther in ("Wow, you sure are huge!"). But, I should have known better.

- Noggin and PBSKids are sure fire way of ending the sadness that sometimes accompanies the end of my child's nap. And I am getting waaaay too dependent on it.

- By the time the post-nap snack is had, it is actually DARK outside. Crud.

- So, my dad had what they call a "mini-stroke" this past weekend. Do you know what the signs of a stroke are? The weird thing was that the signs were very subtle. And he, being a doctor, refused to go get taken care of for some hours. And, if you can get someone help within a very few hours (i.e. call 911 immediately), the doctors can almost fully resolve the stroke with few side-effects. Though it appears that dad will fully recover with some time, and his remaining symptoms are merely just a bit of slurring of some words, and some aphasia, the docs are telling him to take the rest of the month off.

- Since I have grandparents who are 86 and 90, and who live with my parents, and a dad who only gets serious problems (kidney stones, stroke, etc) rather than the common cold, it is not out of the ordinary to get a call from my mom which goes something like this: "everyone is ok, but we are in the hospital." But still, my heart stops a little every time the phone rings after 8 at night or before 7 in the morning.

- My husband's birthday is today. Tomorrow is a post about how fabulous he is.

Post-election thoughts, and more ramblings.

Otherwise known as Day 5 of NaBloPoMo.

This is my last political-ish post. I think.

Jon stole my thunder. So I will just quote him and be done with it. "God is sovereign. God is good. He will provide and He has provided. Everything is going to be alright."

For those of you who didn't catch it, here are John McCain's remarks from last night. Very Classy Speech.

I am more than a little worried about the future of this country. I will be praying for the new president, because he does have a very hard job to do. I am worried about his promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as one of his very first actions. He got a 100% rating from NARAL. Urgh. I really am not a one-issue voter, but his very liberal stance against life is more than a little concerning for me. Check out this rant about the issue. Warning, she calls a spade a spade.

But God can change the hearts and minds of even the hardest and stubbornest of people. Obama claims to be a Christian, so I will continue to storm Heaven for wisdom for the President-elect as he prepares to lead our country.

Sort-of election thoughts, and more

So, I went and voted. Not for Obama. Because I am not a socialist.

And all this hype about long lines that made me scramble and get a babysitter? There was NO ONE THERE. Seriously. I went in and walked right up and gave my name. And then I got to pick a paper ballot. I probably should have done the "touch screen" thing, because that is counted instantly, but I was feeling old school about it.

We will see if they even bother to count the paper ones, or the absentee ones.

I am having a couple people over to watch the returns tonight. Thought it might be a fun, adult evening. But Jonathan had a 3 1/2 hour nap. Of COURSE he did, because I had a babysitter and had stuff (voting) to do. So he isn't going to sleep any time soon. So it may be more wrangling of kids than people were imagining, but still.

I don't know what is going to happen in this election. I just hope that Veronica is right, and that there will be a peaceful transition. I wonder about it when the cops in Ohio have been issued RIOT GEAR in Toledo. WHAT??? I thought that only happened for soccer games in the UK.

I don't want a socialist president. But I believe that God is sovereign, and my hope is in Him, anyway, not in our form of government.

Pre-election thoughts

There are things that our government can do with my money* that I cannot, or more efficiently that I can. On the other hand, there are plenty of things I can do with my money much more efficiently that the government (perhaps by myself, perhaps in a small community). Let's see how they stack up:

Things the Gov't can do better than I can:

1) Wage war. Always an evil, but sometimes a necessary one. oh, I can keep and bear arms, and believe you me, I do, but I can't do a lot about national defense.

2) Organize a money structure. Ours ain't perfect, but carrying around paper that represents money is better than trying to barter with shavings off of a gold brick or something.

3) Build roads/infrastructure. Too big a job for one person, or even a small group, to do on their own. It will would probably be more efficient without a big bureaucracy behind it, but still....

4) Hmmmmm. Oh yes, ensure that certain rights are protected, namely life, liberty and the opportunity to pursue happiness. A system of justice is something the government can set up and run and I really can't, especially given the size of our country.

I am sure that someone else can come up with others that I may or may not agree with, but there you have it.

Things I can do better than the government:

1) Feed the poor. Sometimes on my own, sometimes through various agencies. I remember reading somewhere that it takes three of my tax dollars to get one dollar to the poor through a federal agency. Yet, if I give that same three dollars to Operation Blessing, they are able to multiply it and get $36 worth of food and goods to the needy. Hmmmm, I think I should keep my money and feed the poor without government interference.

2) Save for my retirement. If I hear one more commercial telling me that privatizing social security is bad because "look what just happened to wall street, I am going to scream. Do people think that the SSA just puts the money that is confiscated from your paycheck under a mattress somewhere and then doles it back out to you later? Of course not. It gets invested and either increases or decreases. If it decreases, your benefits later are merely "guaranteed" on the backs of younger tax payers. Forget it. I can sock money away under my own mattress and not burden my children.

3) Educate my children. The public school system in this country is pretty good, all things considered. However, it is not geared to ensuring the best education for MY child. There aren't the resources.

4) Protecting my family. Weirdly enough, one of the things I learned in law school was that the police department is actually not responsible for protecting individuals. Yup. I was surprised. But once I thought about it, it made sense. Police are responsible for ensuring "community" safety, not personal safety. That goes for the fire department and rescue squad, too.

5) Protect my health and choose my health care. Why anyone thinks that putting the feds in charge of health care is a good idea is beyond me. Does anyone who has an HMO really love their choices and options and decisions? How much worse is it going to be of the feds nationalize health care. Sheesh. Let ME decide how to best take care of my health, and weigh my options. And don't get me started on how government mandates on insurance companies have negatively impacted my ability to make choices about my health care with my health care practitioner.

Maybe I will add more thoughts later, but so far, I think I would do a better job with my money than the government, on a lot of levels. So, I think I should keep more of my money. And that will impact my voting decision tomorrow.

* I totally believe that the money that I (we) have is really just a blessing from God, and that He has given us what we have as a loan. So I really do wrestle with the issue of stewardship....am I doing the best with the money He has given me? But, for the sake of this discussion, the question is whether I or the government will do a better job.

Day 2 - Trophy kids?

I saw a link yesterday from Shannon and it made me think.

The article is from the Wall Street Journal and it is about the "millenial kids" who are joining the workforce. These are the kids from the generation AFTER GenX, or those born after 1980. The point of the article is that apparently this generation of new workers has a vast sense of entitlement, and they want their new employers to accommodate them. So, only 40 hours a week; time with families; wearing comfortable clothes; and listening to iPods while working are becoming requirements that the newbie employees are putting on their employers.

Oh, and they want the big salaries, too.

Why would an employer bow to such hubris? Well, they are needing to replace the boomers who are rapidly aging into retirement. And, also according to the article, the employers realize that the Millenials are well educated and good workers, so they do want to capture them. The article points out that the sense of entitlement of these newbies isn't really their fault, after all, they were raised with lavish praise for every good little thing they did, and with enough money that they didn't really feel the need to work hard. Additionally, the employers who are now having to deal with the Millenials needn't look much farther than their own homes, as they are often the ones raising the kids with these types of expectations.

I was kindof amazed at the article. I am smack in the middle of GenX and had to hear about how my generation was full of slackers. But somehow I managed to realize that if I wanted to "get ahead" in life, I was going to have to become educated, and work hard. I didn't want to go to school indefinitely, so I took a few years off after college and worked for a youth ministry and then worked for a couple political campaigns, just to get a feel for things.

It became glaringly obvious to me that I was going to need more education if I were going to "get" anywhere. So I went back to law school, full time, while working part-time. Now THAT was anything but slacker-like. Phew.

And then, after three rather grueling years, I got a job in a small law firm. Making less than the secretary who did not even have a college degree. It was a bit of a wake-up call. Not only was I paying for law school loans, and working at an entry-level position at age 30, but I was going to have to "prove myself" over several/many more years in order to get to where I assumed I "should" be.

I grumbled to myself over the next few years, when the staff went home at 5:30 and I was stuck at the office until 8:00 preparing for a trial. But I understood that one has to "build" a life. Brick by brick. And that I had, theoretically, unlimited earning potential. It was a small comfort, especially after I got married and actually wanted to spend time with my husband. (What? Leave work before 8:00 at night?? Not work on Sundays? Really?)

But that is nothing compared to what these Millenials apparently feel. I mean, I cannot find a babysitter for less than ten dollars an hour these days. Seriously. I have a really hard time finding high school kids even to babysit for THAT kindof money. Apparently they have better things to do with their time. Apparently they don't need to make money. And they shop at places where t-shirts are more than $25.00.

Hmm. Entitlement.

One more thing to feel guilty about....

So, Sherri has convinced me to do this NaBloPoMo thing. Posting something every day for a month? Sheesh. I have been posting about three times a YEAR, so this should be interesting.

I guess for the next week or so I can talk about the upcoming election, the day of the election, and my post-election feelings. Those can probably now be summed up as dread, anxiety, and fear, in that order. Hopefully the last one will change from "fear" to "relief". All we can do is pray.

Ok, this is counting as day 1, even though I am composing it on a post-trick or treating sugar high.

On the differences between boys and girls....and shoes.

So, my poor son has had a growth spurt and now his favorite shoes don't fit. So, we have been on a hunt for shoes that fit, that are cute, that don't fall off, etc.

I found a really good pair of almost running shoes, with velcro. Nice and flexible. Easy on, easy off, which is important since he is two. But, I have a son. Not a daughter. So, shoes get wet. And muddy. And wearing paint-covered shoes to Sunday school seems weird. And he does have some very snazzy Euro-looking ones that are quite good, but are a huge pain to get on.

So, off we went to the store. And, he didn't want any of the "boy" shoes.

He wanted the glittery pink ones. With feathers. And pom poms.

Sigh.

I did convince him to get some tan work-boots and black sneaker-y things. (And since it was a sale, I got some boots for myself. And he wanted to wear MY new shoes.)

Why is it that girl shoes are all sparkly and embellished and boys' aren't? I mean, the girl shoes just SCREAM "fun!". I know, I know. Boys have "Cars" and "Spiderman" shoes, but those just kindof look scary to me, and they all are the same. The girls have fun stuff that is not tied to some Hollywood licensing thing.

I don't want sparkles for my son, but I want him to be as excited about the options he does have as the ones he doesn't.

Is that too much to ask?

Musings on love in generations gone by.

This is merely a stream of consciousness post as I am watching "Becoming Jane" while sitting at home alone (gasp...how can that be? Hubs is at church with J while I am sitting home nursing a hurt back). Feel like a heathen for not listening to a sermon or something. But the chance to sit here and watch a chick flick is too appealing.

Consider this to be a form of "live-blogging" or something.....

Onto my musings...

1) "Affection is desirable. Money is absolutely indispensable." Jane's mom, at hearing Jane say that she will not marry without affection. Her mom replies that she (the mom) married for affection, and "look where that got me...I have to dig my own potatoes."

It is easy for us twenty-first women to judge the "money is indispensable" attitude, but at the time, Jane had no option for employment herself. Not really. Women, of a certain class, could not work, had no option for education except at home, and were unable to own property on their own (a fact that wasn't remedied in England, and the U.S. until shockingly recently.)

While we modern women judge Jane's position to be the "right" one, surely we can understand her mother's concern: no one wants poverty for their child.

2) Remarkable how this movie seems to mirror Pride and Prejudice, as if that work was almost autobiographical.

3) Love the costumes. Personally, I think it would be altogether fabulous if the men I know wore waistcoats and cravats on a regular basis. And frankly, I wouldn't mind wearing empire-waisted dresses. The corsets could go, though. And you never see any pregnant women....did they not go out and do stuff after they started "showing"?

4) "When a young woman such as yourself receives the attentions of a man such as my nephew, the young woman is obliged to accept." WOW. Surely that line is designed to fire up our modern passions. And of course, the nephew in question is a bit of a dullard, though not horrible like the cousin in P and P.

5) And then, and THEN, she kisses the love interest, the lovely Irishman.....who has no money and no property, but he LOVES her. Gosh, I think that is why marriages at the time were arranged by parents. Of course, all teenagers prize "love" above all else, even now.

6) "Portable property is happiness in a pocketbook". By Jane, in the presence of the wealthy(ish) uncle of the poor Irish lover.

7) Of course, to achieve the status that women have today (the ability to work, become educated, to vote, to own property, etc.) women needed to push the envelope, as Jane did (according to the movie), and push it hard. So I shouldn't be so critical.

8) I love the idea of butlers and housekeepers. Though I don't think I could bear having people around all the time.

9) We discount the complete inability of the "poor gentry" (like Jane's family), of even actually earning a living, should they have to. They wouldn't know how to, even if they wanted to.

10) Lawyers in England STILL wear those white wigs in court. Though it seems anachronistic, I suppose it is no more than the uniform that we Americans wear in court: dark suits, relieved only by a bright blouse, or tie. It is very rare to find a woman outside of lower courts, in anything but a dark skirt suit. (Men, too, but men have such fewer options when it comes to professional clothing.) And we say things like, "may it please the Court, my name is ______, and I represent the Plaintiff in this matter."

11) Apparently, at the time, it was appropriate to read one's mail at the dinner table when one is entertaining guests. Weird.

12) To paraphrase a friend of mine, our most significant goal in life shouldn't be "happiness" or personal fulfillment, even though that often appears to be the primary goal for lots of people. The end of Jane's novels is almost always the same, the protagonists make "triumphant happy endings" and are married to "very rich men." Which I think is weird, considering her apparent disdain for money.

13) Tom (the delectable Irishman), proposes an elopement to Scotland, to run away. To "leave everything" and "be together." Her sister, Cassandra, challenges her. Jane says, "happiness is within my grasp and I cannot help myself." Whew! I remember feeling much the same way, at various points, in my early 20's. By my early 30's I had realized that happiness, joy, and (horrors) reliability are not incompatible, which is what I had thought.

14) I love the look of the English countryside. One does get used to the damp and constant mist, I have heard. It is one of the reasons English women have such dewy complexions.

15) Ah! Finally, she has come to her senses and realized that responsibility is not horrible. And she is the reasonable one, not him, for realizing that he can't support his family and her, and that eventually "love" will die in the face of increasing debt and responsibility. Of course it is heartbreaking to leave the one you "love."

Ok, I quit. I sound so very critical. Really, I love a good romance as much as the rest. And, this has all the markings of a good romance, including unrequited love.

HAH. Best line, "it appears that you cannot bear to marry without affection, or with it."

Awa....Tom named his daughter after Jane. How sweet. Wonder what her mother thought of that? Not sure what the ending of the movie is supposed to mean. Should she have actually eloped with Tom? After all, according to the movie, he appeared to have made good, in the end. Should she have, as she always said, put love above all else?

Huh.

I am confused....

I have been following a lot of blogs (mostly mommy, some political) as this election season has heated up. I am confused about some of the comments, especially about the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. I am not going to link to the posts or the comments because slamming a particular person isn't my point.

"She scares me!" says more than one post and many comments. That is usually followed by a comment about her "not blinking" or "flirting" with the camera by winking. Really? That is scary? If someone talked about her political beliefs and disagreed with them, THAT I would understand. I mean, I think Obama is scary because I think he is a socialist and I am scared to live under the kind of socialist regime he would instigate. But that type of comment isn't what they say.

"How DARE she shove her beliefs down our throat," a video showing her asking God's blessing on our troops who are fighting over seas, when she was speaking at a church. Really? THAT is shoving her beliefs down our throats? Obama is always telling the audiences what they/we SHOULD be thinking and believing about everything, but Palin gets castigated for praying, at a church?

"She can't possibly know what it feels like to try to send a kid to college these days, after all, one of her kids went into the military right out of high school and the other (scoff) is getting married because she got pregnant as a teenager. Clearly the Palins don't think higher education is important." I don't even know what to say about this one except to say, out loud, that I certainly hope that the person who said this is never in the position of having her (I think) children ever do anything that is different from what her plans for them might be.

"Her outfits aren't stylish enough/she looks kindof like a frumpy mom." (This is a synopsis of a WaPo newspaper column). Really? That warranted a column? I mean, I know this author is a fashion columnist, but somehow it turned into a political statement. The column continued to compare Palin to Mrs. Obama's "stylish" outfits and Mrs. McCain's "heiress" fashion. Really? Does anyone else think she looks like a frumpy mom? And, who the heck cares?

"She doesn't know what it is like to be a working mom. She has had a cushy job where she can have her child in a crib in her office. Apparently she doesn't have enough to keep her occupied at work if she can watch the baby at the same time." Really? REALLY? THAT is your criticism? That she manages to juggle things and do what works for her family? And seriously, I thought it was the general feminist goal to ensure that women in the workplace could do what they needed to care for their families. Except, I guess, if that woman has political positions you don't agree with.

And if one more person says that Palin's daughter's pregnancy proves that "abstinence" sex education doesn't work, I am going to scream. All that pregnancy proves is that the Palins prefer to carry babies to term. Those people who scoff at teen pregnancy/marriage should look at abortion statistics for teenagers who come out of a comprehensive sex education program. Those "comprehensive sex education" mentality doesn't prevent teen pregnancy, it actively discourages teen motherhood.

Bleah.

If someone wants to have an active discussion with me about Palin's (or any other person's) political positions, fine. But I am sick and tired of having people make arguments against someone based on the afore-mentioned reasons. As I said in a comment to one particularly irritating blog: I don't expect liberals to like Sarah Palin. Why would they? I started out disliking Obama for the same reason I have always disliked Biden, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hilary Clinton (and Bill for that matter), etc. I think their politics stink. And sometimes I think they are underhanded and disingenuous. But mostly I think their politics stink.

But I would never stoop to calling out Barak on his ears, or Michelle on her stupid big pearls that she wears, or Harry Reid on his constantly "poor me" appearance and whiny voice. Honestly. Why are people picking on Sarah Palin about these things? Could it be that there isn't anything else to complain about?

Discuss.

Things I am not

Well, at least one thing.

I am not a writer. At least not in the academia-trained, using big words kind of way. My training, if there was any, was at a college newspaper where we were encouraged to use only subjects and verbs. Objects only if necessary; adjectives and adverbs were actively discouraged. AND, if there was a short word that would do, the editor would mercilessly strike a long word. Even if it were more technically correct.

I had a political theory professor in college who tried desperately to get me to write longer sentences and paragraphs. In fact, she famously once assigned a paper to the class along the order of: "10 pages by Friday. Except that I want Kimberly to write 20." Everyone thought I was being punished. I was amused because I knew that she knew that if I tried to AIM for 20, I might get 10. But what she tried the hardest to burn out of me was my tendency to assume that everyone thought as I did. If A, then B, then (obviously the rest of the alphabet) therefore, Z! Mostly, I learned the lesson.

But, as I said, I am not a writer. I think out loud, correct myself when necessary, and continue to opine while doing so. Therefore, what generally comes out of my pen is more or less an unedited stream of consciousness that is only interesting, much less compelling, to me. In fact, this very post is being composed directly in the blog editor, not some namby-pamby word processing program.

However, just because I am not a writer, does not mean that I am not a thinker. Mostly at night, when I should be sleeping. Anyhoooo, I am a regular blog reader, and often think of posting my thoughts which have been spiked by something I have read. But, I am not a writer. And when I try to pin down those pithy thoughts which swirl in my head at three in the morning, they generally refuse to be pinned.

This is all to explain why I never post anything on this blog. In fact, the only other places where I have posted are the brain children of someone else. My husband is a pretty good writer, and I am a fair editor, and the bloggy know-it-all of the two of us. So I manage this one. But he does the writing. Shoot. I can't even claim THAT blog. Phooey.

So, I am reduced to merely gnashing my teeth about things in my head, torturing my friends (instead of the blogosphere), and posting cute pictures of my family on this blog. And, well, since this blog was totally intended to be a way of keeping family and friends up to date on our growing family, I suppose it is doing its' intended work. Except that I never post updates. PHOOEY.

Two years Old!

Suddenly, J-man is two.

Five minutes ago he was a tiny infant.

I just weighed him today and he is nearly 30 pounds. All muscle.

And words? Oh, the words. I stopped counting at several hundred.

He never stops talking! (Not surprising, given his heritage.)

Links!

Hey there everyone -
I have made it my goal to post, you know, once every six months or so. So here I am. POST!

For something that is more current, see the Lenten Blog from Church of the Apostles at http://rememberthouartdust.blogspot.com

Very late addition of pictures and info

So, 11 months ago I finally had the baby! Jonathan is now 11 months old and doing quite well. I am totally not a real blogger, as indicated by the passage of a year since the last post. But for those of you who might happen on here....he did arrive!