The Glass is Half-Full

I grew up in a football fanatic family - on Saturdays and Sundays I can vividly recall playing in the basement while my parents were whooping, yelling and jumping up-and-down upstairs to some Bears, Lions or Packers game. It was hard to play beauty parlor with that kind of racket going on upstairs. Then my youngest brother Michael became a football player all the way to Alma College. I went to a few of his games, because I wanted to be a good/supportive sister - but I really didn't get it. It was all so violent - and that was just in the stands. So, when this lucky mom had two sons, I didn't want them to play football. I wanted them to play chess or run cross country or play golf or tennis. So, I posed this argument to my loving and supportive husband. He didn't think that forbidding them to play football was a good idea. I countered that the potential for serious injury was huge when playing football in high school and later. He countered with the argument that sealed

While doing crunches this morning, I turned on the TV to keep my mind off the exercise I was about to do and the movie "Gran Torino" was playing. It was nearly 3/4 of the way done. Perfect, I thought, I can watch the end of one of my newest favorite movies. Fifteen minutes later, I'm a puddle of tears on the floor. The end of that movie dissolves me to tears every time - and I think I've seen it now about six or seven times. When Clint Eastwood's character goes about his last day - including a lame confession with the priest - locking 'Toad' in the basement, I begin to get weepy. SCENE SPOILER ALERT ! But when he is shot down and is splayed as though crucified on the cross, I become a blubbering idiot. So much softness and sacrifice in one so tough and gruff - it highlights the intensity of his sacrifice for his new family next door. I only need watch the last few minutes of "Gran Torino" to get the full emotional effect. The same can be said

I have a secret - I used to have a huge crush on John Cougar Mellencamp (I think he just goes by John Mellencamp now). He was a Midwestern , rocker, bad boy and I was a Midwestern , disco, good girl. We didn't have a lot in common - but many of his lyrics made me believe we did! I recently heard his Small Town song (don't even know the real title!) - he sings of living in a small town and all of it's benefits. It rang truer than ever - especially after the year we've had. I love living in this small town partly because everyone knows everyone and everyone apparently knows your business. That might sound like a bad thing - but it's actually a good thing. People you hardly know will drop off cookies when they hear your husband has cancer and people you know a little will call and ask if "Tuesday is a good day for me to bring by dinner". And people you know well will organize many people to take care of the many tasks that seem monumental when you're