As We Grow Old...the Beauty Steals Inward

~Ralph Waldo Emerson



"Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been." ~Mark Twain

"Everyone is the age of their heart." ~Guatelmalan Proverb

"Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces into their hearts." ~Martin Buxbaum

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." ~Abraham Lincoln

More Grandparent Pix!

Adopt-a-Grandparent

Here's some pictures from our visit today at the Homestead. So much fun! We prepared and served dinner for them again, and visited for awhile. WE LOVE THESE PEOPLE SO MUCH!!

You...You Are AWESOME.

One of the final projects I’m in for this Comm150 class is a compliment booth. The Compliment Booth= AWESOME. Kay, so when we did this for the first time I was a bit nervous--it's hard to give compliments to people you don’t know. It’s like that compliment assignment Sister Embree gave us (which assignment is assigned for forever…I only mention it to remind myself. I guess we get our grade for this one in the next life, eh Sis. E?) of complimenting 3 people every week, one needing to be a stranger. But this was complimenting practically hundreds of people (it seemed like that many, I didn’t actually count) in the space of… an hour. We sat in chairs on the lawn facing the back of the library holding a ridiculous sign that says ‘Compliment Booth', and a ton of people walked by. Kiiiiind of unnerving for someone like me who doesn’t like to draw unnecessary attention to herself. BUT, it was great because the missionary in me came out and it was actually super fun! It WAS hard to give compliments that actually sounded sincere and not trite or general. It was hard not to laugh at peoples' reactions, because everyone was smiling! Whether they thought we were being dumb or cool or whatever, they SMILED, they didn't seem to be able to stop themselves. Yes… mission accomplished. Everyone seemed to love it (or at least think we were weird enough to laugh at). Some people came up and thanked us, some people insisted on giving US compliments. Haha, some people purposely walked by several times to get more compliments! My reaction: I couldn't stop smiling! After shouting out about a million compliments that afternoon, I was a bit more open with my compliments to everyone the rest of the day, I just couldn't stop 'em from coming out, I felt like I needed Immodium for the mouth or something!

Why is it that we as humans love, and almost seem to thrive on words of affirmation? (actually I shouldn't limit this to humans...even my dog loves having me tell her how cute she is!) Just nice, simple things said about us, about our looks or our abilities, how much they love our cooking, our family, or even the stupid $2 hand-me-down shoes on our feet? Why are words of affirmation so darn important to us? On the Love Languages quiz, the love language of Words of Affirmation came in third for me, but still, I, like everyone else on this awesome planet, love to have positive and nice things said to me about me, even if it’s just a passing compliment that didn’t take any thought or effort at all. Like in this video clipfrom the movie What About Bob, you can tell the mom loved that Bob loved her cooking. We all love compliments! Why? Maybe because we're such a self-critical/comparing society and we get down on ourselves a lot, maybe because we're stressed out about life and we just need a reason to smile, or because it just makes us feel good to know that you're noticed, that someone took the time to open their mouth and say something nice about you. It makes me want to return the favor, pass it on and compliment someone else!

(Here's a link to the awesome Validation video!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao )

What If Tweets Parts 1 & 2

This one is in answer to the questions from class. The first question is "What if you could have the perfect love relationship, but you knew at the end of one year the other person would die. Would you still pursue the relationship?" The second question is "What if you could have the perfect love but instead of them dying after a year, you knew they would betray you. Would you still pursue the relationship?" These were super hard Q's...I think I finally decided on a yes to the first Q and definite no to the second.

Part 1:
1. @SisEmbree Yes...y waste that time that u could be happy w/some1 u love even if only a yr? U would probly only regret it later on if u didnt
7:46 PM Mar 19th via web in reply to SisEmbree
2. @SisEmbree I think if you knew you'd only have a year together, you'd try to make every day count, no regrets.
11:42 AM Mar 20th via web in reply to SisEmbree
3. @RyaJam you're so right...since it was the perfect love how could anything ever come close to matching that?
8:36 PM Mar 20th via web in reply to RyaJam
4. @blakejx but perfection is all relative anyway, right? so the perfect love could in fact be imperfect...?
12:11 AM Mar 21st via web

Part 2:
1. @SisEmbree Wow.it wouldnt b the same. It wouldnt b perfect cz of that knowledge. I'd always b wondering if they really do love me after all.
9:37 PM Mar 22nd via web
2. #comm150 I think it would also depend on if they were repentant or not. Its easier to forgive someone who is truly sorry.
11:07 PM Mar 23rd via web
3. P.S. just another thot on the whatif Q's...the more I think about it the more I feel I would definitely not pursue the betrayal relationship
9:28 PM Mar 26th via web
4. Reason: betrayal is NOT accidental. 2 me its a deliberate action. Y would u want to b w/some1 who is going 2 intentionally break your heart?
9:30 PM Mar 26th via web

Social Exchange Theory Tweets

#comm150 Question: so do you think the costs or rewards of relationships continue even after the relationship has been cut off?
6:13 PM Mar 17th via web

@jlbell71 I guess it's one of those sitch's where the rewards don't come until later...probably much later, & not in this life. #comm150
7:31 AM Mar 19th via web in reply to jlbell71

Love Languages Quiz Tweets

On the Love Languages quiz I scored the highest on quality time, then touch, words and acts of service tied for 3rd, and last gifts.
7:06 PM Mar 16th via web

#comm150 I decided I only like the gifts love language if it comes in the form of ice cream or baked goods, haha.
7:08 PM Mar 16th via web