All of Us

Global Youth Connect changed my life, making an opportunity available to me to understand something bigger than myself in a way no other organization has ever done before.

The people I met, Rwandan and American, are truly lifelong friends who inspire me on a weekly basis to keep my heart open to all souls and to...never stop working on behalf of the oppressed...never stop examining my own life and attempting to do better...to be a better example of humanity in my actions, words, thoughts and beliefs.

During this time of mourning and memory in Rwanda, and this time on earth when we all need hope, I thank God (and Jesse Hawkes) for making GYC a hopeful, hardworking entity!

My friend and hero Emiko

Read her story here.

Ring!

This picture cracks me up.

 How happy I hope they are and will be in this lifetime together!

New

 Happy Easter.

Mu ha ha ha...har!!!

So excited to relive my childhood a bit tonight! I feel like a combination between bad scary movies, Goosebumps novels and, dare I say, my precocious nature as a wee one, were what got my imagination moving the most as a kid.

I still love horror. I love how it tricks us, and I love how it unifies us. Not in a "In the jungle, the mighty jungle..." kind of way. In a common fear of death, universal phobia of creaky doors and bad lighting kind of way.

When I wrote "my book" as a little kid - yes, I still have it on my bookshelf today, it was very eerie and dark in my 4th grade mind. I think if I ever write fiction again, I'm going to have to bring horror into it somehow. It's like refusing to acknowledge a part of life without it. And that's no fun.

So, what do you think? Do you like the Scream series? Do you feel horror cinema and fiction is a worthy contribution to the array  of stories out there?

Grown Up Pants

curiousmaria.wordpress.com

Ever have to put on your grown up pants and make a grown up decision at work even though you're under 30, it's not in your department, and you don't know the right answer?

It makes want to eat an entire bag of Cheetos.

              

Brazen

This may be the most inflammatory blog post I've written in a while. Maybe EVER. Dun duh duh!

Maybe it is because it is nearing wedding season, but I have read multiple times in the blogosphere recently how people are having anniversaries, and they are getting the reaction from others, "Oh, just wait until you've been married X amount of years, all of the magic will wear off."

Firstly, I am really saddened that any one would chose to react to another person's anniversary celebration like that. For one, it takes the focus off the bliss of the happy couple and puts it on the unhappy commentator who just had to impart her "wisdom." Why is this the choice response, among so many others, like, "Congratulations!" or "You guys really are a wonderful couple!" or "I admire how you two love and treat each other in your marriage"? Anything but negative words that reflect so poorly on the speaker and are SO self-centered.

Secondly, who says?! Who says that after you've been in a relationship for X amount of years and have been in some bad fights, have had some dull days together, or have stopped caring about morning breath, that the magic, the fun, the butterflies have to stop? Butterflies inevitably fly away, but it is up to you for the sake of your relationship to catch them!

I am not in a marriage, so I don't claim to know what one is like. I understand their are plenty of bad, or even abusive relationships out there, and I don't think anyone deserves that.

But in a "just okay" marriage where the sparks are gone, I believe it is up to the people in the marriage to change that, and not simply sit back and complain about one another, or wait for the other person to care more. Why get married if not to cultivate a beautiful, dynamic, working relationship where the ebb and flow of good and bad ties you closer together? Why get married if not to surprise your spouse with romance and flirtation when you are elderly, parenting, vacationing, sick, well, rich, poor...? Why get married if you don't plan on doing a lot of apologizing, a lot of forgiving, and if you don't believe in unconditional love that can renew your bond?

I think it's doing the covenant relationship of marriage such a disservice (and one another a disservice!) if you aren't selflessly committing to making what is just an okay marriage fantastic.

So I am really happy that the newly weds out there are unconvinced if not unphased by what others have said. I am glad they are defining their own relationships based on the supreme love they have for one another. They are such good examples, and to them I say cheers!

To the others, I have to admit I don't know you and I shouldn't speak ill of you at all without walking a 5k in your shoes. But I do hope that you'll work like a boyscout to light the fire again! And I do hope and pray I'll do the same when my time comes.