Rethinking the Lemonade Stand

On the way to the park yesterday, we passed some elementary-aged kiddos who had baked various desserts to raise money for Haitians.


Charlie, a British seven-year-old, has raised 130,000 pounds for Haiti.

Wow, the future rocks.

Cultivate Your Garden

Wow, January is almost over. It's been a very chaotic month for my little family, and I'm just getting around to cleaning up my inbox and thinking about resolutions for 2010. A friend sent me a pretty standard forward of ways to Cultivate Your Garden in 2010, and it contained some gems. I'm not usually this sappy, but sometimes it takes a tough time to put your life in perspective. I think these are some good little nuggets of advice. Indulge me :).


Live with the 3 Es -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar.
Play more games.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Call your family often.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
Take a 10 to 30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

...and my favorite one today:

Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.

Coco's Parting Words

I loved this. Great advice for anyone, no matter your profession or situation.

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

- Conan during his last show

Hugs

On Marriage

My husband and I have been married for three months as of yesterday. In the span of a lifetime, three months is nothing - our professional photos from the wedding are not even finished. We haven't yet gone on our honeymoon. But I think we truly understand the importance and significance of the vows we took.

In a random act of violence, my husband was assaulted on New Years and suffered head trauma. I can't tell you how thankful I was that we got married before the incident took place. When he was in the ambulance and emergency room, I was able to make medical decisions for him. I was able to sign for him and be with him at every moment. And this gave me great comfort to know that I was there when he needed me most. And I am continually comforted to know that at some point in our marriage, the roles will be reversed, and he will be there for me when I most need him.

Today is a day in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr., and I've been thinking a lot about equality since the incident. It troubles me that friends of mine have been a loving, monogamous relationship for over a decade and cannot do these things for each other in Texas because they are in a same-sex relationship and cannot legally marry. It angers me that this inequality still exists. I can't begin to imagine how it must feel to be unable to do such things for your life partner.

I hope things change because everyone deserves to be legally married to the one person they love.

That's all.