Only A Mere Woman

          One thing I truly wasn't counting on, was the hope that I would have, once a month, that maybe this time we might be expecting.  My husband and I are neither seeking children out nor avoiding them, but even either were the case, the possibility (no matter how slim) would still remain that we might be expecting each month.             I never was one of those girls who would go ga-ga over any new or not-so-new baby in sight.  It's not that I don't like children in their baby form, because I do, but the thought of holding them was never very appealing to me.  Mostly, I was afraid of either breaking them, or them freaking out and bawling the instant they hit my arms.  I don't know why, that was just the fear I had, and still have to some extent.  I don't really remember what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I can assure you that I wasn't one of those girls who dreamt of growing up to be a mom with ...

          Mayonnaise.  It's hard to believe that I "had" to give that up.  Especially considering I do not like salad dressing fake mayo in the least.  But I did, and somehow I am managing to survive with that salad dressing fake stuff.  Mostly by avoiding the making of foods which call for it.  ;)             A lot of things in life change when one gets married.  The biggest and most notable is the customary leaving of family and home to begin a new life with someone who may very well turn out to be more of a stranger than one might realize.  There are quite a few little differences which exhibit themselves after marriage, many of which are quite unforeseen in the hustle and bustle activity of the "Big Picture".  Like differences in the sense of taste.  My husband likes that fake mayo and despises the real, and also preferred margarine over butter.  I, on the other hand, held...

A letter reply to the thoughtful comment of American, on the post Fetus Actually Beneficial to Mother? My Dear American,          Thank you so much for your comment, and I do ask your pardon in the matter of my tardiness.  I would also like to beg your patience in regards to my reply, especially where technical information is concerned, as "Just Google It" does not work too well for me and I have no clue as to what sources are particularly  believable  and which are not.  Research, particularly internet-based, is in no way my strong suit.             Neither my post nor the original article were meant to be very technical and detailed.  Rather, they were meant as a general source of information, with the hopes that interested or ambitious people would then proceed to follow links and research the topic themselves.  The term " microchimerism " was used in the original article; I decided to leave it o...

     An article on  LifeSiteNews  makes the claim that a fetus is not only not a parasite, but is actually helping to contribute to the health of the mother by exchanging cells with her.  Yes, you read that correctly - that unformed mass of tissue is actually providing the mother with beneficial cells which may stay with her for the rest of her life!  According to studies which have been going on for more than 30 years, there is a give-and-take process that happens in the placenta, where the mother shares her cells with the fetus, and the fetus shares its cells with the mother .  These fetal cells have been observed aiding the mother's immune system by increasing her autoimmune defenses.  Further, the child's stem cells also enter the mother's bloodstream, helping to regenerate many things, not the least of which are her heart, liver, and brain.  One study goes on to posit that that at the end of a pregnancy, 6% of the DNA in the mothe...

Can lead to great misunderstandings.              There has been a great effort out there on the part of those who despise religions of any kind, though particularly institutionalized religion, to re-define what religion means, and make it into something which is to be despised and avoided at all costs.  "Religion" started wars; "religion" condones great inhumanity; "religious" people are nothing more than hypocrites; "religious" people are really the worst sinners for not practicing what they preach.        Much of what these people claim seems, at first glance, to make much sense.  History quite clearly shows the atrocities committed in the name of religion, and a weak reasoner quite easily comes to the conclusion that religion is the reason such things were done, and therefore religion must be done away with.  What is overlooked in such reasoning is the fact that it is people , terribly, terribly ...

Published on Facebook 06/23/2011. The Catholic Marriage Fairy-tale is not at all like the ones Disney and other Chick-Flick people would like you to think it is. There is no room for a damsel in distress, nor a woman who must be as strong as or stronger than her knight. Like all of life, it is a war against the devil and sin, with the ultimate and mutual reward of heaven waiting to be won. This battle cannot be won by the man fighting alone, nor by the woman fighting alone, but by both, in unison. Each has their own roles, duties, style of fighting, but it must all be for the one end, the salvation of the soul of the other. The man must be the leader, but that does not mean that the woman ought to sit around and wait to be saved. Rather, she must learn to do all that the man does, for even leaders get wounded sometimes, and then it must be the woman who takes the lead, lest, leaderless, the skirmish be lost to the enemy. There must be balance among the ranks, for not all can nor sh...

Published on Facebook 03/03/2010.  My thoughts on the nature of true love.  True Love is not found in story books or fairy-tales. True Love is the willing of the Ultimate Good of another, desiring to do all that one can to enable the Beloved to reach that goal, which is Union with God. Such a desire is most perfectly exhibited in a complete denial of self and the taking on of the Beloved's good as one's own. Anything less than death of self for the Ultimate Good of another is not True Love, and ought not be revered as such. Unless this is understood and acted upon both by the Lover and the Beloved, neither will be satisfied and will remain restless and in search of that Ultimate Love.

Published on Facebook 02/16/2010.  I had spoken (rather poorly I thought) at a debate about the RDA Rule at Christendom College, as it stood in 2010.  This was intended to be a better argument than my speech, but I'm not sure it worked. Debates are not for solving problems, but rather for developing strong thinking and speaking skills. (Feel free to elaborate if you wish, Mr. J-ski.) The debate was about the Christendom community as such, not people after or before being in the Christendom community. Therefore the argument that people may or may not have been scarred for life really does not apply. The argument which states that the prohibition forces people off campus and into possibly near occasions of sin does apply, for the students are still currently a part of the Christendom community, and the Church herself teaches that every sin is harmful to the community as well as the individual. Though there is a valid point for the pro side, that the people here at Chr...

Published on Facebook 02/14/2010.  I wrote it while meditating upon my engagement ring, which was my Gigi's. “Diamonds,” she thought as she glanced down at her finger, “who could have come up with the idea that they represent a pure love and the promise of a life together?” The ring, the only thing adorning her left hand, was rather simple. A single brilliant-cut diamond was fixed in a delicate golden setting. Not as fancy s many of the engagement rings which she had seen of late, it was beautiful in its simplicity, like the love with which it was given. She allowed her gaze to descend once again as she pondered the question of diamonds. “Diamonds are strong and lasting, so I guess it would make sense for them to symbolize the characteristics of a true love,” she concluded. She smiled, with both pleasure at her successful musing and fondness for the person to whom she had promised herself. Slowly her smile became wistful, as her thoughts turned to the previous owner of her ...

This was first published on Facebook 11/02/2009.  I wrote it to hopefully help reduce the culture shock for the Spring Junior Semester Romies.   This is just a kind of list of things that I really wish I had known about Rome beforehand, and which caused me to have a bit of a difficult time adjusting to being over here. 1. There is graffiti everywhere. I got to Candia and my first thought was, "Wow. I didn't think it would look like the trashy side of town." Of course, this is coming from an uber-country girl with little experience with the nature of the city. Anyway, it really isn't the trashy side at all, there's just a lot of graffiti everywhere. And Candia is actually in a very desirable part of town, with a lot of very nice and pricey stores all up and down it. 2. Things are not as big as all the pictures make them out to be. Or maybe my perspective is just off. Either way, many of the things which are here gave a rather anti-climactic meeting when I...

     Why is it that all my good thoughts occur when I am nowhere near the computer? Walking, doing dishes, folding laundry, and my mind is flowing from one musing to the next; but plop myself down in front of the computer and *POOF!* nothing, just a wondering what in the world to write.        I have pretty much determined that I am a worker-thinker:  When I have some menial labor to do, I pass the time by thinking. I honestly enjoy being alone with my thoughts, most of the time. Thinking used to be the main way to pass time working in solitude (I'm including prayer in thinking); before the advent of television and portable music players, all a person had available was thought.        Nowadays there seems to be an unfortunate lack of deep thinking done by the general populace. People are afraid , unwilling , unable  to be alone with their thoughts. Being able to have music or some other form of distraction during times ...