On The Road Again

A cool shot I took out the passenger side window while me and my hubby were driving across the country last summer.

Crazy Town

Does anyone else get randomly emotional, to a pretty irrational extent? I hate to be the unfairly stereotyped hysterical woman, but it happens to me a lot. What's weird is that I am pretty even-keel most of the time. I make a concerted effort to be kind of strong and take life as it comes. But the absolute dumbest things, like sappy commercials and human interest stories on TV, just get me going.

Take for example previews for the upcoming film The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock. I was vaguely aware of the Michael Lewis book about the true life story of pro-football player Michael Oher-- his difficult childhood and eventual adoption and nurturing by a well-to-do family, but when I see anything about this movie, I just starting bawling. Hysterically. And I know that's what the filmmakers want, and they add just the right touching moments into the trailer with the requisite sweeping music score quite purposefully. I don't think it's just that that sets me off though.

Whenever I see something about the movie, I can't help having deep, lengthy thoughts about Oher's situation. He never knew his father, his mom was addicted to crack cocaine. In the movie, Sandra Bullock's character sees him walking on a dark street, in freezing weather, with just a tee-shirt on. I just can't take the image. When she approaches him, he's so timid. He has nowhere to sleep. In my mind, I can't help thinking, Why? How? This innocent person, this child of God, without proper clothes or shelter. Several times I have weeped and weeped over this. As emotional as it makes me to think that someone could be in this situation, I am also completely moved by the kindness of the family that opened their hearts to him. But-- what if they hadn't? Who else is out there?

Obviously, crying about this widely-reaching problem is not going to help. I think what I can do is try to be the kind of person who appreciates her own blessings enough to realize that's it's my responsibility, as a human being, to take care of anyone going through a hardship, in any way I can. For now maybe it's just praying. Perhaps one day I'll be able to do more. In the mean time, I'm going to try to stay calm.

Damn it, just watched the preview again. I need to get some tissues.

Ethan Allen Style Quiz

Good morning friends!
I wanted to share with you one of my favorite wasting-time activities. I love home decor, and although I have never actually purchased anything from Ethan Allen, I really like their stuff. On their website, they have a Design Quiz, which helps you determine what your home decor point-of-view is. It's not perfectly scientific-- I take it over and over again and often get different results-- but I still think it's super fun. I hope you enjoy it! You can access it here.