The Glass is Half-Full

I left Saugatuck on a Wednesday afternoon to drive the 197 miles to Detroit to see my son Michael. I stayed at the Crowne Plaza - formerly the Ponchatrain - and was greeted warmly by the door man and valet. I was then greeted by the nicest bell hop ever who put my luggage on one of those trolley thingys and insisted on pushing it and me (in my wheelchair) to check in. Where a very nice clerk congratulated me on being and IHG Platinum member and then gave me a little gift bag that contained a chilled bottle of water, and apple and a bag of trail mix. As the bell hop was bringing me to my room he remarked, "you musta stayed in a lot of hotels to get the Platinum level." And yes, I have. In fact, this Crowne Plaza would be my first stop on a whirlwind tour to see the the three not-so-little Piggins. I drove 283 miles to Chicago the next day, Thursday, to deliver some things to Matthew who would be moving into a new apartment over the weekend. I would also be helping Delaney

What would Jesus do? I love to ponder that question when faced with a difficult or challenging decision. Like many of you, I had one of the WWJD wristbands and it worked as a great visual, moral compass. In situations like: "Should I start swearing at the driver of the car going 55 in the left lane of an interstate with a posted speed limit of 70 with the three little Piggins in the back seats of my mini-van?" First, even though Jesus never had a mini-van or children for that matter (unless you read or watched 'The Da Vinci Code' and follow the story line of Mary Magdalene being the wife of Jesus ... boy did I digress!), I'm pretty sure in this case, Jesus would not have sworn and certainly not thought awful thoughts about some idiot that didn't know that the left lane was for passing ... or how about a situation like this: You're in the express check out lane at the grocery story with the granola bars you promised to bring to your son and his team

Look what I found!?! I wrote this essay for the Grand Rapids Press in 2004 - about being in a politically mixed-marriage. While that still holds true - one of us isn't voting for their party's silver-spoon, narcissistic, bullying, blowhard candidate. Essay gr press Sun. Oct. 17, 2004 Couple face a great debate Mixed marriage means he’s for Bush, she’s for Kerry I am in a mixed marriage; I am a liberal with Democratic preferences and my husband is a Republican. Together, we are raising bipartisan children, as well as each other’s blood pressure every four years. Many people have looked at us in amazement, that we could have such divergent political beliefs and yet find in each other the ideal life partner. I will not lie and say it has not been without turmoil – especially during the Monica Lewinsky debacle and in this most-heated Presidential election. Yet, underneath it all, our core beliefs are the same. We long for a world that will be a better world