How do you decide who to marry?

A group of young kids were asked how do you decide who to marry, and here are the results:

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?

(1) You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
- Alan, age 10

(2) No person really decides before they grow up who they’re going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you’re stuck with.
- Kristen, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

(1) Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
- Camille, age 10

(2) No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married.
- Freddie, age 6 (very wise for his age)

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

(1) You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

(1) Both don’t want any more kids.
- Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

(1) Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
- Lynnette, age 8 (isn’t she a treasure)

(2) On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that Usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
- Martin, age 10

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

(1) I’d run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
-Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

(1) When they’re rich.
- Pam, age 7

(2) The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn’t want to mess with that.
- Curt, age 7

(3) The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It’s the right thing to do.
- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

(1) I don’t know which is better, but I’ll tell you one thing. I’m never going to have sex with my wife. I don’t want to be all grossed out.
- Theodore, age 8

(2) It’s better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN’T GET MARRIED?

(1) There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn’t there?
- Kelvin, age 8

And the #1 Favorite is……..

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

(1) Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.
- Ricky, age 10

June 3, 2012 Copyright © 2013 Daily News Dig

Blue as the sky - series

The same cloud formation taken just minutes apart, the wind moving the restless clouds across the sky...You only have to look up at the sky to remember that everything changes, and nothing is constant...Without change there is no growth, no excitement and no joy.

Summer Skies #1 © Jennifer Phillips

 Summer Skies #2 © Jennifer Phillips

 Summer Skies #3 © Jennifer Phillips

Somewhere between

I have discovered

I like to be somewhere

Between beyond

Behind betwixt 

After Alpha

Before Omega

Near the cusp

Of start and  finish

Where the moon

Curves

And a point

Is made

Upon which hangs

A silver chord

Of harmony

The pendulum

Swings yet finds

The moment  

Poised to play

Both sides  

Of opposing forms

I love beginnings

But if I miss a few

I'll take the middles

Which lead to the endings

And then

I'd like to start

All over

Again

© Denise Baxter Yoder (2012)

Pendulum © Zoltán Vassy

Dreams are for dreamers

I was big there, for a while.

Open, wide, engaged, and engaging.

Enjoying life's richness 

like a creamy pavlova.

Now I must fall back.

I am not really big enough

for the weight 

of your expectations.

Become small again.

Not expecting much, 

and tasting only the crumbs

as I find them.

Time to put the big toys away 

and go back to being little.

Little needs, little hopes, little wants, little life.

Dreams are for dreamers.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

A personal god

"I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise and sheer blind luck. I believe that anyone who says sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and no-one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe that life is a game, life is a cruel joke and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

Sam in "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Before it breaks

Around here, it's the hardest time of year

Waking up, the days are even gone

The collar of my coat, Lord help me, cannot help the cold

The rain drops sting my eyes, I keep them closed

But I'm feelin' no pain

I'm a little lonely and my quietest friend

Have I the moonlight? Have I let you in?

Say it ain't so, say I'm happy again

Say it's over, say I'm dreaming

Say I'm better than you left me

Say you're sorry, I can take it

Say you'll wait, say you won't

Say you love me, say you don't

I can make my own mistakes

Let it bend before it breaks

I'm allright, don't I seem to be?

Aren't I swinging on the stars? Don't I wear them on my sleeve?

Went looking for a crossroads, it happens every day

 And whichever way you turn, I'm gonna turn the other way

Say it's over, say I'm dreaming

Say I'm better than you left me

Say you're sorry, I can take it

Say you'll wait, say you won't

Say you love me, say you don't

I can make my own mistakes

Learn to let it bend before it breaks

Say it's over, say I'm dreaming

Say I'm better than you left me

Say you're sorry, I can take it

Say you'll wait, say you won't

Say you love me, say you don't

I can make my own mistakes

Let it bend before it breaks

By Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile

Stardust

My heart was wrenched from its place

in the firmament of my chest, 

then I floated aimlessly

in the sea of your remembrance.

You came, to heal me

You came, to open me

You came, to shore me up

Now I hold these lessons, like stars

and must turn away, face the dust

with your stars in my hands, 

and your wind at my back.


© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

Stardust © IFA-Amsterdam 2013.

We'll be fine

Burn the garden