Paradigms...where shift happens!

Divorce party? Signs of the times?

 

I won't start with the old cliché about "just when I thought I had seen it all" but it did run

through my mind when I saw this car this morning in front of my office. I checked the web

site on the decal out and it seems to be a business selling a wide variety of party supplies.

Granted it's somewhat of a niche market but it seems to me that if the statistics we see

reported are accurate half the adult population of this country are potential buyers.

Can't help but wonder if those super-civilized modern folk in California would invite

their ex-spouses to the party?

If so would it be OK for them to bring a date or would that be pushing the limit? 

How would one deal with mutual friends on the invitation list?

Is a divorce party just a flimsy and lame way to announce that you are back on the market

and would like to get lucky?

Should you schedule your party on the weekend that your ex has the kids?

Can you register for divorce gifts at Target?

If not, why not…it is a party after all.

Counting what counts

It's probably considered bad form to just reprint something in your blog that you've seen elsewhere. It seems to me though that a blog can and perhaps should be

a lot like conversation part of which is relaying things you have heard others say. That's what the following is except I have no idea who said it. It's not mine but

now it is yours to reflect upon and embrace if you will:

 

If you've seen it, I apologize but if you haven't look around you at

your life, your love and your family and figure out for yourself the

difference between your sand and your rocks...enough said....

 

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in

front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty

>mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top,

rocks about 2" diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full?

They agreed that it was.

 

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them in

to the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course,

rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed. He

asked his students again if the jar was full? They agreed that yes, it was.

The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the

jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

 

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is

your life.. The rocks are the important things - your family, your

partner, your health, your children - anything that is so important to you that if

> it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things

> in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent

> things like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small

> stuff. If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is

> no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all

> your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will

> never have room for the things that are truly most

> important. Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life. Play with your

> children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to

> go to work, clean the house, give a dinner

> party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first - the things

> that really matter.

> Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand.

A little late but it's taken me a while to sort out which parts of my Memorial Day trek to Washington to talk about. There were so many moments up there that the experience was a sort of overload. My photo buddy Stephen Gillian and I drove up as far as Springfield and then took the Metro in to the Smithsonian station to spend the day taking pictures. We both took a lot of pictures. Most of his were good, a few of mine were petty much OK.

 

With the war in Iraq becoming increasingly unpopular I was surprised to see only one protester in DC. I hope that the lack of more was due to respect for the spirit of the occasion and not apathy. In general I observed a great respect and admiration for all the veterans who were in the parade elements. The most interesting was in he section of the parade, devoted to the World War 1. A veteran of that war was riding along in an antique car and each time they announced that he was a WW 1 vet and that he was 106 years old the parade crowd broke into enthusiastic applause. He seemed to be enjoying the experience immensely while waving enthusiastically to all his evident admirers.

 

I had mixed feelings about the junior Marines in the parade. Seeing a bunch of pre-teen boys and girls in camouflage fatigues marching in close order to a cadence count seemed to conflict with my concept of what 8 through 12 year olds ought to be doing yet it was, I am sure, a wholesome pastime for kids to be involved in. The martial image just seemed to be in conflict with what a kid should be about. The cute thing though was that at the end of the parade route where we were standing, they broke out of their group and stood at curbside to watch the rest of the units walk by. Every time a group with a Marine Corps theme cam by these little poopers sounded off with a sort of high pitched ooo-rah. Toward the end of the parade there was another junior Marine group and all those little poopers just ooo-rahed their butts off back and forth at each other. It would have been funny if not for the disconnect I was dealing with over the idea of recruiting kids into a military like activity like that.