Daddy's Girl

Today is my father's birthday.

As Frenchy tells Sandy in the movie Grease:

"The only man a girl can really count on is her daddy."

Of course, I don't believe this is true. He's not the only man you can count on. But if you're like me and you are blessed with an exceptional father, every other man in your life has a pretty tough act to follow.

Happy Birthday to my dad.

Joys and Concerns

I am starting a new book, Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian. He wrote Midwives, one of the few Oprah book selections I enjoyed.

And it starts with this:

As a minister I rarely found the entirety of a Sunday service depressing. But some mornings disease and despair seemed to permeate the congregation like floodwaters in sandbags, and the only people who stood during the moment when we shared our joys and concerns were those souls who were intimately acquainted with nursing homes, ICUs, and the nearby hospice. Concerns invariably outnumbered joys, but there were some Sundays that were absolute routs, and it would seem that the only people rising up in their pews to speak needed Prozac considerably more than they needed prayer.

I practically had to break my fingers to stop myself from calling my minister. Look at this! Read this!

We do joys and concerns in my church every week. Some people love the microphone and some people share very intimate, gory details. I embrace learning about people who need prayers but I am mindful of those who never raise their voice. I rarely take the microphone but I'm not above planting myself in our minister's office and bawling my eyes out.

Joys and concerns is a weekly audio newsletter. Sometimes it's messy; many times it's too much information. Often I don't make eye contact with anyone because my eyes are rolling out of my head. More often than not, it makes me put silly issues in perspective.

And here's the next part of the book:

On those sorts of Sundays, whenever someone would stand and ask for prayers for something relatively minor -- a promotion, traveling mercies, a broken leg that surely would mend -- I would find myself thinking as I stood in the pulpit, Get a spine, you bloody ingrate! Buck up! That lady behind you is about to lose her husband to pancreatic cancer and you're whining about your difficult boss? Oh, please!

As my minister pointed out on Sunday, we are blessed that we can't read each other's minds.

That doesn't mean we don't carry each other's joys and concerns all week long.

I've Been Thinking About ...

While I've been immersed and stewing in my own juices, I've occasionally paid attention to some local, national and international stuff. In no particular order of importance:

Conan O'Brien got screwed in the NBC/Tonight Show/Late Night/Jay Leno fiasco. Conan signed a contract years ago that gave him a guaranteed hosting position on a certain date. He lived up to his deal. Jay's prime time show didn't work (not his fault) and suddenly all contracts are treated about as ironclad as professional sports contracts. Whatever happened to a deal is a deal?

Ellen DeGeneres is a great come-back story. I liked her as a stand-up comedienne and loved her sitcom, Ellen. Then she came out as a gay woman, her show was cancelled and her movies were not getting a lot of attention. Now she is happily married (regardless of how you feel about that) and hosting the top rated day time talk show and the newest judge on American Idol. I am not gay (she is) and I am not married (she is) and I am not employed (she is) and I am not funny (she is.) Some days, I want to be Ellen.

Our state is trying to legislate some new stuff on how the kids are tested. We're also constantly debating the length of the school year and when it ends and begins. You would think I don't care about any of this but I do. Beyond the obvious -- our tax dollars support the school systems, this is the future of our society. I read an editorial lately about teachers who spend their own money for basic necessities like notebooks and craft paper. I thought about our church and the things we are asked to provide to a few schools: uniforms, underpants, etc. To echo the editorial I read, when did supporting the next generation become the responsibility of volunteers?

I think John Edwards is skunk and a scumbag. I'm very glad he's been outed. I'm equally sure Elizabeth could be/might be a b*#+h and a control freak. Everyone involved in this sordid mess is slippery and opportunistic. All in all, there's a moral lesson in the wreckage of so many lives.

Gosh it's fun to look at some other lives ...

Time to Move On

Well, the Super Bowl is over and as the whole world knows, our Colts did not win. I admit that I wanted our team to come out on top but I also understand the excitement for the Saints. And I admit that if a city ever needed a sports team to bring them some good news, it's New Orleans. So, it's time to move on.

My divorce is final. It fell together pretty quickly a couple of weeks ago and then I promptly fell apart. There's a lot of two steps forward, one step back. It's hard and it's sad and it's the right thing. I'm still allowed to hurt and I'm still allowed to be mad at myself and my ex-husband. It's also time to move on.

I've allowed myself to be coddled and pampered by my parents since the separation. I am upping my intensity on the job search because I have to take something. I have to get out in the world and I have to start somewhere. I can't start rebuilding my life until I actually go out and make a new one for myself. It's time to move on.

It's also time to move on from the pity party so future posts will hopefully be much more uplifting.