Irrepressible Perserverence

Day 01 - Introduce Yourself
Day 02 - Your first love
Day 03 - Your parents
Day 04 - What you ate today
Day 05 - Your definition of love
Day 06 - Your day
Day 07 - Your best friend
Day 08 - A moment

Day 09 - Your beliefs

Growing up, we were sort of, kind of Protestant in the way that you are when you never go to church and religion as a whole really wasn't discussed much.  We attended church for a bit when I was much younger - in time for a Christmas play, even; Heather was a baby lamb and I was a Wise Man.  I think I wore a beard. - but between the constant moving and life in general, it didn't last.

I remember my mom saying that this was something that she regretted, not giving us this religious culture while growing up.  I think the thing that I missed out on the most was the culture of going, not the actual religion part.  But I think that goes more in hand with the idea of a home town or knowing one group of people for most of your life desire that I sometimes get and not really out of any desire to develop a religious fervor.

Ultimately, I have no idea if there's an ultimate being somewhere out there.  I'd like to think there is but I have no way of proving or disproving that as I have been lucky enough to avoid any near death experiences and / or miracles in my life time.  I casually talk about there being a heaven or a hell in the way that I'd sort of kind of really like there to be something beyond this particular existence of ours but, you know, I have no idea.

I think Jesus was a real person or an amalgamation of several (I don't know that particular part of history that well) but not necessarily the son of God.  And I think a lot of the lessons that you get from his teachings should be simple common sense (be kind to one another, turn the other cheek, try to help your neighbor) and not just something that one needs to learn while attending church service.

There are good men and women who attend church / temple / what have you.  There are bad men and women who do the same.  And the same goes for those who don't follow any faith.

In essence, I try to live a good life.  I try to be a good person.  I don't need a scripture or someone standing behind a pulpit in order to attempt that.  And in my moments of need - of which there have been a surprising number over the last year - if I bow my head and send out a prayer, it's not that I know for certain someone / something is going to hear it.  It's me giving voice to what's most troubling me at the moment.

And if someone were to hear it - well, it's not like I can prove or disprove it, even if something turns out the way I'd been hoping.  In the end, there's a lot of things that I have no control over but desperately wished I did - it's an outlet, one that helps and never hurts.

( Day 10 - 30 )

Day 01 - Introduce Yourself
Day 02 - Your first love
Day 03 - Your parents
Day 04 - What you ate today
Day 05 - Your definition of love
Day 06 - Your day

Day 07 - Your best friend

I swear, in all of these memes, there's always one part that seems like it's designed to cause drama, isn't there?

Anyway.  Back in middle school / high school, I pretty much labeled anyone with a passing interest in me as one of my best friends.  I don't do that anymore but I've got so many close friendships these days that I don't like to label them because they're all different.  I love my friends and I'm closer to others than some but at the end, that doesn't detract from anything I might have with them.

( Days 08 - 30 )

You know what's creepy and unacceptable?  Following right behind a woman and "jokingly" talking about how you're following her.  Even in an office building, I'm still going to spin around and tell you to knock it off or I'm screaming for help.  (People will get off at the 3rd floor so they can by-pass the locked firegate on the exit stairs and take the stairs the rest of the way up - the problem, here, is that the door to the stairwell is right next to the side door for the office I take.)

He scurried away, looking both startled and ashamed.

I'm sorry for mistaking your creepy jokes about following me, which you started on the elevator, for something creepy.  Oh wait, no I'm not.  They were creepy.

Anyway.

Day 01 - Introduce Yourself
Day 02 - Your first love
Day 03 - Your parents
Day 04 - What you ate today

Day 05 - Your definition of love

Love is really hard to define but I think of love as a solid foundation to any relationship, friends or otherwise, but not a crutch.  Love doesn't or shouldn't make someone else perfect because no one is.  It allows you to accept all parts of someone, both good and bad, and in return, you're accepted for who you are, too.  It also doesn't make two people one - love should always let you be individual.  Love's one of many feelings that make a good relationship.

Day 01 - Introduce Yourself
Day 02 - Your first love

Day 03 - Your parents

Well, anyone who knows me knows I've been looking forward to writing this one. ;)

My parents met while they were both stationed up in Thurso, Scotland during their stints in the Navy.  Thurso wasn't the biggest of stations, or towns, but while they vaguely knew each other it wasn't until some party in January of 1980 that they got together.

It seems that my poor dad had caught the attention of one of the, a-hem, more notorious women at the party and, wanting nothing to do with her since he knew exactly where she'd been, proceeded to do what any strong minded person would do.  He ran.  As he fled, he spotted my mom, who had come without a date, and made a beeline for her; throwing his arm over her shoulder, he told her to play along like they had come together and, my mom, amused, followed suit.

My dad likes to say that once he put his arm around her shoulders, he didn't want to let go.  I know, right?

Their courtship was a fast one.  Dating to engaged to married within three or four weeks, depending on who you ask now though I think they've retconned it to three, they have been married now for over 31 years.  And they got married on Groundhogs Day - how awesome is that?

You sometimes look at them and wonder - how the hell has my mom not killed my dad yet?  I guess that whole being stupidly in love even after 31 years probably helps a lot.

My dad's a great guy, one of the best men that I've ever known.  Sadly, I've inherited his gift of gab but not his storytelling ability.  He's utterly comfortable around any group of people and has a million plus stories that will make anyone bust out laughing.  He's as straightforward as you can get - injustice doesn't sit well with him, especially if it's aimed at his people at work, and he has no qualms in telling someone in no specific terms what's wrong and what should happen now.  The drawback, of course, is that he thinks he's right - the really awful part is that he USUALLY IS.

His humor runs the gamut from the slightly perverse - though generally not around us, though I've heard some of the stories he'll tell other former military and government folks - to the kind of humor that four year olds think is hilarious.  He's stubborn as hell and intelligent enough to back it up, too.  I tend to spend more time with my mom but I'm starting to want that to change - not to lessen any time with her but to gain more time with him.  I'm far more like him than I ever thought I was and when we aren't butting heads because of it, I see that more and more.

I think the best way to describe my mom is to say that she's awesome and I'm sort of desperate to have her meet other awesome mommies so that their awesome-ness can expand and take over the world (hi Aisy's mom!).  She's probably one of the most down to earth people I know - it helps to keep my dad grounded when he's being bizarre - and one of the easiest to talk to.  I think a defining moment that would probably tell you what you should know about her is that the Marine's in Switzerland dubbed her their Marine Mom.  The entire lot of them.  She's a great influence on whatever group she's with, more intelligent than she might give herself credit for and I've never seen her lose her cool in any situation.

She's the kind of mom that let me buy her dinner when she, I and all the roommates and Lauren went out to dinner - but turned around and bought us all frozen yogurt.  If anyone needs anything, you know she's there for you.

We spend quite a bit of time with each other, as much as you can when you live an hour + from one another, and it's a relationship where we can either talk or have a comfortable silence.  When I, or anyone, talks to my mom, you know you're going to get an honest answer from her about any given situation.

I think one of the reasons my parents work so well together is that they compliment each other.  My mom grounds my dad and he makes her laugh.  Even when they don't agree on something, they work around it.  31 years is a long time and they could have gotten complacent but they poke and prod at each other and, in the end, they have a stronger marriage for it.

In essence, my folks are amazing.


( Days 4 - 30 )