before i go any further, i would just like to pay my dues to the Charles de Gaulle airport in paris (disclaimer: i am an ardent france lover). at the risk of drawing the wrath of my french friends, i would just like to say that cdg is likely the worst airport ever put together (and i choose my words carefully). sure, the french gave us the lovely statue of liberty, and Tour Eiffel; however, when it comes to putting together something that is supposed to be functional and useful, they seem to be lacking. I am sure to put together this airport, they took over a village with small huts, renovated these huts with airport looking signs, then decided they were going to put together an elaborate system of trains and buses and link-rail thingies to connect everything. bottom line, it takes forever to get anywhere, especially cuz u cannot simply run or walk, but must wait for 3 or 4 connectors and sit in these connectors while it goes 30 minutes to get from terminal 2A, for example, to terminal 2B. To illustrate what i mean, i have summoned my creative juices and provided this exquisite view of Terminal 2 at Charles de Gaulle airport:
you may think that there is no terminal 2D...but thats what they want you to think...look harder, o young padawan.
moving on, my christmas/new years break was really nice. nice, though, does not describe the crazy, freezing weather i was greeted with in chicago and for a few days in st louis. i think sa has seriously softened my skin when it comes to the weather cuz i was not happy. tho, as one friend rightly put it, thats probly countered by the fact that sa has seriously toughened my skin when it comes to violence! luckily, i learned the ancient art of the blanket/heater mix! thanks friend.
if there was a theme to my holiday time this year, it was marriage, dating and love. sounds super soft, hey?! well, weather it was in relation to me, my family, friends, etc, i think i found myself talking about these topics more often than i usually do. and i mean serious discussions. seriously. and long. i can't say that any decisions were made or ground breaking answers found, but lots of questions were asked and interesting points taken. you can't really get to answers until you've correctly defined the questions, right? so what were some of those questions?
- when should one get married?
- how do you know you're ready to be married?
- what does it mean to be ready? and is not being ready really a valid excuse?
- is it worth risking being with the woman/man of ur dreams just cuz u think ur not ready?
- is it worth risking being with the woman/man of ur dreams if u push her/him to be ready when they aren't?
- why does it seem that women are more likely to be ready faster than men?
- what is the role of love? and what does it look like?
- how does one move from that to the much bigger step of marriage?
- can you love someone so much, but not feel like they are a good partner for marriage?
- what role does dating play? what does dating look like? what does dating in the christian context look like?
- what are people's must-have's and deal breakers?
- how is it that 2 seemingly "perfect for each other" people find it difficult to start or engage in a relationship?
- can 2 people who don't quite fit each others' checklists completely, be compatible?
- what role do parents and family play in the decision?
- why are so many people eager to get married, when we hear horror stories all the time, especially about the first couple, few yrs?
- whats all the hassle about?
it may seem like those are a lot of questions, but i was at home for 3 weeks and those only scratch the surface of the discussions i had. so the resolution is really that i will continue to ponder these. no, they will probably not overwhelm me (don't worry, mom and dad, i'm not getting married anytime soon), but its interesting to think about such things every once in a while. i would say one thing that i think i think, is there is no use rushing into things. for something as important as marriage, the process of getting to know someone, taking your time, asking the right questions, and allowing love to fester is far more important than the decision to get married. thats what i think i think, for now.
one of my buddies put up a note that kind of relates to this. one of his lessons from 2008 was: "You don't get second chances. Never act like you can do your best to get another chance. If it happens, it's the exception, not the status quo. If you get a shot, take it. Don't wait." Not sure I completely agree with that, perhaps due to my non-type A characteristic. I think we get second chances all the time; however, i agree that we cannot count on getting these 2nd chances in order to make our move, but we also shouldnt be overly discourage because there is a strong possibility that we'll get another chance.
finally, new new years resolution (inspired by the friend from above, and others): use more similes and metaphors (ex: comparing woah to new years). yep, working on that one.
