Man and Woman, pt. 1

Throughout my life, I have heard several different interpretations of the Adam and Eve story. The story starts out with Adam needing someone to help him, a companion (Genesis 2:18-20). The concept of woman, having been created from part of man, leads to the idea that man and woman shall join together to (re)make the one flesh (Genesis 2:21-23). This is the original idea of marriage (Genesis 2:24).

Most know of the (in)famous Tree of Knowledge (Genesis 2:17). It was mentioned before God even created Eve. Now the serpent comes along and tempts Eve. "Come on. Surely God won't kill you if you eat the fruit off that tree." (My paraphrasing). Eve eats the fruit and "gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Genesis 3:6)

One version of this story has Adam being tricked by Eve to eat the fruit as if she was as evil as the serpent. Another version may paint Adam as a dufus not recognizing the fruit and eating it when she hands it to him. I believe he knew and chose to eat it. (This idea was taught originally by the pastor of our church.)

What is love? What do you do when your in love? Would you give up everything even if you knew it was wrong?

Adam was told that he would die if he ate of the fruit of that one tree. I wonder if he ate it because she had already eaten some. Did he love her so much that he would sacrifice himself beside her? When God comes and asks Adam about the 'incident', he does not lie. "And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." (Genesis 3:12) The woman given to him. He loves her and feels responsible for her actions. He does not say he was tricked. Adam instead admits that it was his choice.

There are things that have happened in my life where I have let my wife make the choice, even though I may have felt uncomfortable about it. Do I regret the choices I let her make and the consequences that followed? Some of them. Here's the thing though. It's not something that will make me despise her. It does not keep irritating me, like a splinter in my hand that I can't get out.

I used to get bothered by some of the little things that she did. I found that if I truly value our relationship together, I should not dwell on them. I love her. And I would give up everything in my world for her (and daughter).

"When a man loves a woman
Can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world
For the good thing he's found
If she's bad he can't see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
If he put her down"

('When A Man Loves A Woman' by Percy Sledge)

It's been a good day...

The Mrs. asks, "How was your day?" to which I usually reply, "OK". For the most part this means that while the day has been challenging, it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. Maybe a little stress here and there but nothing like when I first started as an "at home dad". That was a tough time.

I don't think I came with the patience for a baby even though my wife supported me. She seems to handle it so well. The only time I can tell she's had a hard day with CM is how fast she hands her over to me after I get home from work or if she looks frazzled.

My instincts come more from being a dog trainer and what I've read in the baby books. Even some of that seems to conflict. So if CM starts howling, I created a checklist to work through. Diaper, check, bottle, check, etc.

What happens when she starts crying, you change the diaper (which wasn't real bad), offer a bottle, even walk her around, doing my "Passing Wind" dance and she still continues to cry? What's worse is that I can get her at least a little calm and knowing that she's hungry offer her the bottle again to which she screams, no, screeches, at the top of her lungs. I find that sometimes just sitting her down for a minute or two in her crib will calm her down or she'll fall asleep.

I just checked. She's out like a light. I know that she will be even more hungry when she wakes but at least she calmed down quickly. Is this right to do? Some of you might say, "You've got to comfort her so she can learn to trust in you in the future". That's well and good but what if just picking her up makes her cry harder? Others may say, "It's OK to let them cry it out". She's only four months old. I've been told you can't do that until they are several months older or else they won't understand. All I can say is that she fell asleep by the time I was half done with this post, so maybe she just wanted to lay down after all. I don't know.

Sorry, no cute "baby sleeping" photo. I can hear her start to whimper again...

October

For years I really enjoyed Halloween. It was kinda the start of the holiday season for me. Followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas, each a month after the prior holiday. The whole idea of haunted houses, costumes, movies and treats got me excited.

I think this was the main reason that in high school I decided to go into special effects. I wanted to do it all: Props, makeup, gore, in camera, theater, TV, movie, horror, sci-fi. (The only thing I didn't get much into was the computer graphics. I just didn't have much capability to play around with the concept.) I even enrolled in a college that taught each of these aspects. After graduation, I didn't really pursue it because of lack of money (I know excuses, etc.) I moved to south Florida and started going to church. When I got saved, it just seemed to me that horror and sci-fi didn't quite fit with Christianity. I lost my motivation to do what I had trained to do. People told me I could always do special effects for regular TV or movies or even go into Christian movies. It still didn't seem right.

I've struggled with this for years. (Especially since I got in contact with a friend from college who still does some SFX.) I'm always tempted to put up decorations and watch scary movies. Some of the do-it-yourself websites I frequent go nuts with stuff you can make or do during October. I always think about putting a haunted house together or make an mini attraction in the garage or on the porch. The thought that I could really make a cool attraction runs through my head all month. After all what other holiday could a diy person really go nuts.

I think by mutual agreement, the Mrs. and I have decided that to decorate and have fun with Halloween is not such a bad idea as long as we don't go all out and try for really scary. We can't go nuts with decorations because of money (should go to bills and CM) but we'll put out our few decorations and maybe in a year or two we'll do a little more. I've managed to catch a few "scary" movies on the Disney channels and will be watching some on Nick. I figure as long as I don't go any farther than the equivalent of "Goosebumps" then I can have a little fun.

That being said, here's some links you might like:
Children R Skary
MAKE your Halloween
And what would Halloween be without best hostess to ever hit the screen (or in person)
Elvira

My rant about gas.

I've started my old position at a new store. I'm a dog trainer again. I don't mind that. It's the drive. Not the distance. I can handle that. It's the gas. Every mile I put on the truck, my mind is thinking, "There goes another gallon." I'm not even going to get started on the cost of gas. (Not much, at least.)

I'm looking forward to the potential of moving to the new store. It's just a hop, skip and a jump to work which is different from everywhere I've been working since Pittsburgh. I liked being able to walk less than ten minutes to work. Not even enough time to build up a sweat. While the new store won't be quite so close, it is within biking distance. (My biking distance is any distance I can bike to in thirty minutes or less. I can bike much farther, I just get more sweaty doing it.)

Will gas prices going up end up costing me more than I can earn before the new store opens? If so, I may have to take a little hiatus and get a temp job much closer. The only other options would be less costly vehicle to drive like an electric vehicle (EV)(too costly to purchase or make in the short term), a scooter/motorcycle (too dangerous, according to wife, on local roads), or pumping it on a bicycle (which would take forever on local roads over twenty miles it takes to get to work), or public transport (heaven help me try to figure out the local bus schedule/routes).

I know what some people would say. "I have to drive farther than that every day." Up hill, both ways, in the snow. Yes, I know how bad it could be.

I keep remembering the first few years that I was living with my wife before we got married. We didn't have a car for the majority of the time that we lived in Pittsburgh. After we moved to Florida, we still got around on foot or bike (putting quite a few miles on both).

The question is, how much is too much? Does the price of gas have to go to $8/gal. (recent prediction) before the average person has to start finding alternatives? What is your limit? I told my wife that a $50 fill-up* may be my limit, but as local prices start to approach that number, is it really?

*$50 for my truck just short of once a week plus $50 for wife's car per week. That's $100 out of our paycheck per week just to drive to work and typical errands (not even a heavy driving such as trips to Miami or Boca/Delray).