Last night I dreamt that Color Purple announced it was closing on Broadway.

Aww! But booze, ciggs, and women make up my daily life!

You think???? And your modest too Jane. Is there a chance you could be my mother too?????



-- Edited by Hello799 at 00:25, 2008-01-09

Adoption! What a fabulous thought! The kids are grown, the nest is empty. The house is big! I love to cook! I'll take you all on! But remember, I'm kind of strict and wonderfully clean hearted and mid-western. But I'm really not boring. Does that seem like an oxymoron? I actually find life goes profoundly well to love God, love family, love the USA, follow the rules, and give back to life. Simple but missed by so many these days. Anyone still want to be adopted?

Jane,

Give me an average day plan...maybe a Saturday or Sunday.

Then we'll talk.

PICK ME----PICK ME!!!!!!! I still want to be adopted. I'm already from the mid-west and for you to be strict and wonderfully clean hearted just takes me back to "growing up".
With respect to the booze, cigs, and women........we will have to make a deal. I already don't drink, I gave up smoking 8 years ago, and as for the women-----thats where we need to make a deal. I'll give em "ALL" up except for one. How does that sound????

....And yes, this message board ROCKS, but the people on it are PRICELESS!!!!!!!

Jo, we gotta have boys in the "family." All that testosterone is lots of fun when it's channelled to good use. That's a Mom's job--get all that vivacious energy headed in some exciting, great direction. These men need to take on the world, go after their dreams, and at the same time temper all of that energy with a sense of knowing they also must learn the extremely hard task of making many sacrifices for those they love. Now THAT's an oxymoron hard to figure out! But men who learn a balance between ambition and sacrificing for their loved ones will likely succeed in both the work place and be highly esteemed in their families. What do you think, Jo?

Quite an interesting philosophy. I don't know if I agree or disagree.

Personally, I believe experience is the best teacher out there. You have to do something once, at least to find out if you enjoy it.

That doesn't mean it's a good thing even if it could be true. I am no philosopher but I don't think it's true anyway. You learn more from your family, your teachers, your environment, much more I think, than you ever experiment with. And that is basically a good thing. We a brain to process what we absorb from your senses and then make some decisions based on that. Having to jump into a situatoion to learn a valuable lesson to live by is dangerous and unecessay.

But there's always the crisp red apple just beyond your reach.

Jane, I will cast my vote for testosterone! You are convincing.

[Men who learn a balance between ambition and sacrificing for their loved ones will likely succeed in both the work place and be highly esteemed in their families. What do you think, Jo?]

I agree with you one-hundred percent. I believe that the ultimate joy is to be happy with ones life both personally and professionally. The achievement of balance is absolutely necessary for a healthy existence. Excess in either direction in all things has the capacity to destroy. I left my husband who became a workaholic with unremitting ambition. He paid a high price for professional success both personally and health-wise. In spite of shared values and a strong faith, in the end, behaviors demonstrated a clear inability to achieve balance. It is unfortunate that many men do not have behavioral modeling from their parents in how to achieve balance. One of my favorite quotes by William James: The most important thing in your life is to live your life for something more important than your life.


[ I generally say things like, "look to the left and to the right. Is this decision or activity moving me towards something good, positive, and supportive, or towards something negative, questionable, or harmful?" If there's even a tilt to the left...don't go there.]

Very wise words, indeed. You have just helped me resolve a very important, long-standing issue. I am going to copy and paste your quote and tape it on the wall where I can read it every day. You should write a book, Wisdom from the Heartland. I sincerely thank you for sharing this gem from your experience. It is practical and makes perfect sense.

[Or did I just not listen and have to learn, like many, the hard way?]

Is there another way? Ha, ha. Do tell!! Testing the waters is part of the life trajectory, dont you think? One gets slapped down just so many times before you learn that there just may be a better way of doing, being, existing, right? Then theres stupidity, when one knows that doing X will result in Y with great predictability and the result will not be pretty. Ultimately, everything is either a blessing or a lessona lesson, not a failure. Some lessons must be learned through repeated acts of ignorance. I believe there is a saying somewhere that states success is measured not by the number of times you fall down but by the number of times you stand up after falling down!

Eris wrote:

---

Last night I dreamt that Color Purple announced it was closing on Broadway.

---

Looks like this dream is coming true...

From AP wire on Yahoo!

"NEW YORK - "The Color Purple" will close Feb. 24 on Broadway after a run of more than two years.

The musical, based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of triumph over adversity, will have played 910 performances by the time the final curtain falls next month at the Broadway Theatre."

 and the Broadway World story is here.

-- Edited by grannygreaser at 23:06, 2008-01-24

Move over, Allison DuBois......
Who will play you in the tv series?

I've been too busy for a couple weeks to get back to this topic but I wanted to let Jo know I appreciated her response. I am sorry your husband did not find a way to balance his life more appropriately to esteem you at the valuable position you deserve.

Also, I think there is a very basic inherent nature in all of us. Some are more daring than others. for example, or even drawn to danger or the idea of testing the "system." Others very much desire to be rule followers and can listen and learn easily from others. What a different life each type may have! I know without a doubt that many painful life experiences could be avoided with a soft heart to learn from others. I for one, work hard at keeping my heart soft. I have learned many ways to avoid problems and many ways to work towards over-all prosperity by listening to others. It's not necessarily my nature, but it is the path of wisdom.