I hope I’m not alone when I say that dating is not my thing. Though I don’t believe that I’m an awkward person, there’s something about the first few dates with someone new that makes my skin crawl. Do you open the door? Does he?
“I think we should break up.” Of all of the responses to the dreaded break-up speech, “Thank you” assuredly ranks among the most rare. And while that may not be your initial response when the time with your significant other comes to a close, there’s
It's an all too familiar paradox that we can feel most alone when we're surrounded by others. While city life provides great opportunities for community, it is also incredibly isolating when it seems individuals abound, but no true friend can be found. When I'm lonely, I
I just recently rented my first home with my (brand, glistening, sparklingly fresh) husband, and am counting the days until we can move in. I find myself sitting in meetings or movies, ticking through the list of furniture needed, and imagining the wooden floors covered
It's been an early spring in much of the country. Landscapes are already in full bloom, flaunting their array of leaves, buds and blossoms. After any winter, no matter how mild, spring makes us a little more thankful for the beauty of nature. With Earth
Sometimes in life we forget the basic fundamentals of being human. Caught up in all our technology--phones, texts, tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram--or whatever your go-to is, we need to remember that face-to- face time is the most valuable gift we can give one another. Even
wooden floor. chirping bird. slight tickle. BIG smile. strings played. dusty books. love rightly. grey beach. stripes sideways. long corridors. risk. grass. curtains pulled. leaf pile. running in heels. candlesticks. water wading. dark sky. smoke whirl. rain hard. fascinated goosebumps. crisp books. fire ignite. tart taste. i am lost in a story. i think
Our last type of love is the Greek word Eros, which derives its origin from the mythical god Eros, the god of love. Eros is the sense of “being in love,” also including a physically passionate love. C.S. Lewis, in his book The Four Loves,
They say that familiarity breeds contempt but who are “they” anyway? According to the Greek, familiarity breeds our third type of love, “Storge,” generally defined as “fondness through familiarity, especially between family members.” I was blessed to grow up in a large 7-person family on a
We asked Emily Gallentine, who we consider a “professional friend,” to teach us about the second type of love, which in Greek is called Philia. This side of love includes love between family members, friends, and community—requiring loyalty, equality, and familiarity. Otherwise referred to as phileo,
Oh, LOVE. Not only a word, but a force, a fire, filled with power—able to lift us to the heights of joy, and drop us into the depths of sorrow—to transform a reality, and change a life. Love has existed since the beginning of time, and
Back in August 2009, I received an email from my now-husband saying, “Now…this is random, but just go with it and I’ll give you more details later.” He followed the sentence with an excerpt from the book of Mark in the Bible: "Jesus sat down opposite
It involves the tongue, the lips, the jaw, the lungs, the glottis, and the vocal tract. It uniquely requires both hemispheres of the brain, various neurotransmitters and long-reaching nerves. It is learned, memorized and exercised with thought, intelligence and feeling. Sometimes. Sometimes our speech is far more
For the vast majority of my life, I obtained a highly dysfunctional relationship with this “thing,” called love. It was as if one day love would be perpetual in every dimension of the day’s journey, thus plunging itself into the bottomless ocean of my soul, leaving
Love is an action, a decision, a choice. Love does not require that we like the person on the receiving end, and in fact the most powerful forms of love occur when the one we love is an enemy or someone who has wronged us. Love
I am Sleeping Beauty minus the sleeping and the beauty, but definitely with the high castle walls and the climbing thickets of wild, prickly brambles from which it would take a machete and a strong and tireless arm to carve out even the narrowest of paths, that is if one could even make it past the fire-breathing dragon
Say "I'm sorry." Maybe you said something to a co-worker that caused a ripple in the relationship, and you both pretend it didn't happen. Or perhaps you said something to your husband that belongs on an episode of Real Housewives; you both have swept past
Hug a person who you haver never hugged before. Yes, you may think it might be awkward, but it is worth it. Maybe you have been seeing the same cashier every morning for the last three months; you know she has 3 kids and a dog
Sometimes it is hard to know how to start a conversation with God. For some of us, "prayer" has perhaps been a part of our daily lives since we were young. But for others, we just started exploring spirituality, and the idea of God seems overwhelming,
Call your grandma(s). Remember that your grandma was once your age, and that she understands more than you think she does
This Advent Season, we want to challenge you to make giving part of your daily routine
Say Thanks. Give a letter. When you came home today and fetched your mail, were you hoping that just maybe someone was sweet enough to send you a handwritten letter? And I bet that’s what you found wasn’t it? A thoughtful, encouraging, handwritten note. I’m just kidding.
Girlfriends are good for many things. They are wonderful when you need a gut wrenching laugh, an unrelenting cry, a word of advice, and someone to hold your secrets. Your friends see you at your best…your worst… your most beautiful and your most ugly (both
The ancient King Solomon wrote the words “pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones,” and in contrast, “a gossip separates close friends.” From the beginning of time humans have dealt with communication issues and emotional pain. Yet, although
Me, Myself and I. My guess is that most of us spend most of our lives thinking mostly about ourselves, which is not altogether inappropriate. It is our responsibility to take care of ourselves, after all. No one else is going to do it for us.
When I was just starting out on my own and had to begin grocery shopping for myself, my mother warned me many times not to enter a grocery store on an empty stomach. She knew that if I went to the store hungry, I would
Sometimes when you see an old, wrinkly grandma, your first thought is "awe, how cute," but not much more. Or, she is that old person walking miserably slow on the sidewalk that you can't pass, or perhaps driving terribly because she can no longer see
Men and women; we’ve been stranded on this rock together, hurtling through space for untold millennia, chasing each other in circles, and what do we have to show for it? Dusty libraries of romantic poetry and radio stations which have been on repeat for five
I’ve noticed something about knitters. Knitters love people and want to keep them warm. This is not a bad thing. The world needs more people like this. In fact, There are quite a few charity knitting groups that knit hats only for preemie babies. Others
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