What Love really is

Love is putting aside what you want in order to provide what the other person needs. This should be done autonomously - without thought or hesitation.

Learning to let go of our personal agenda in order to care for the people around us is perhaps one of the harder lessons in life to get in the habit of doing, but it is more than worth it <3

Never Alone

These girls are amazing!! Even though we may never fully understand them or how they make their lives so rich, I think we can all learn something great from this particular pair of twins.

Conjoined Twins Lead an Incredible Life - They are a Miracle of God! from inspiredfaith on GodTube.

My Adopted Family

I was sitting here hanging out with my son.  He was moving around, eating Cheerio's, and finding things to get into, while I was watching the mini slideshow of pictures that I have on my desktop.  It has pictures from my senior prom, a few of the college football games I went to, random ones I liked from the internet, etc.

While watching these cycle through, I was struck with the gravity of the friendships I have been able to keep through the recent years.  While my dad was in the military, I never really kept friends for more than 4 years.  Now that I am settled down with my own family and all, I have had quite a few friends for more than 4 years.  It's truly amazing how some people influence your life in ways that you never really could have imagined from the time that you first met them.

One of my best friends I met my sophomore or junior year in high school.  I never really thought a lot of the friendship through the first year or so, but I soon grew close to him, and we've been best friends ever since.  It's one of those friendships that never really became more than a friendship, meaning, we have never been romantically involved, and it has been understood for a few years now that we are brother and sister, not anything else.  I have always loved that, and it's so awesome to have an adopted brother to talk to, and I never have to worry about it getting weird.

Another one of my best friends is someone I really didn't like when I met her (haha).  She grew up in a completely different world than I did.  She was raised VERY country (you could pretty much call it redneck haha, but I love her for it).  We are pretty much polar opposites, and that has been awesome because we have never once fought over a guy.  We can talk about anything, and if we're ever upset with each other, it passes easily, and we go right back to being friends like nothing ever happened.  I have adopted her as my sister, and it's been simply wonderful to have that friend who, no matter how long it has been since we've last spoken, will talk to me like it has only been a day.

I also met my fiance in high school.  I didn't like him much back then either, haha.  Eventually word got around to me that he "liked" me, and all it took was that little rumor to spark my interest.  I kept an eye on him from that day forward, and I swore to myself that after he broke up with his girlfriend, I would date him.  They dated for something like 6 or 8 months... but hey, I let him date her and didn't try to break them up or anything.  And yeah, they got back together later, but I made my mark the second time around.  I eventually won out in the end, but all of that is a long story, definitely meant for another day.

Main point here:  I am so extremely blessed to have such amazing friends.  No, I didn't list all of the main people in my life, but I listed the ones who I have known the longest/have made a significant impact on my life.  I love each of my adopted family with all of my heart, and I wouldn't give any of them up for the world.  Love you guys <3

A different kind of investment

I was talking to an old high school buddy of mine today. We used to be best friends in high school.  It's so strange remembering all the times in high school because it still feels like it was only a week or so ago I was worrying about friends and dances with the occasional thought to homework, and now I manage a home, have a job, and have to figure out how to raise a family in a way that won't completely mess them all up for life, haha.

I have changed so much since high school, which is amazing if you think about it because I graduated a mere 2 and a half years ago.  Looking back, I almost miss who I was, but at the same time, I have really loved becoming who I am today.

I do miss the relationships I had though.  Not too many have truly survived the test of time to the extent that I wish they would have.  I had so many wonderful friends, and as soon as I graduated most of them seemed to drop of the face of the earth.

My goal now is to find friends that will last a lifetime, now that life is more established than it ever has been for me.  I need to find a church, possibly some volunteer work, and some other ways to get involved and find people to spend time with and invest in as friends. :)

Penguins, mirrors, and pants.

I was sitting here doing some homework today, writing about the story of finding my major.  Nothing particularly special or exciting.  However, as I was writing, I realized just how much I actually love writing.  Then, I realized how much I probably suck at writing haha.

Yes, it is true... I will most likely never write something worth publishing in my life.  If I do, it will be a collection of all the things I find hilarious and awesome in my life, which, if we're being honest, is quite an extensive list...  I might have to write a few of those books.  Or perhaps, I will write about my life.  The events and circumstances that changed the core of my existence.  The situations that made my life shed a new light on the world.  The occurrences that made my blood boil or my heart stop for a few beats and then start again.  An autobiography of sorts.

I have always wanted to write something of value to a wide audience.  I am not cool enough to write a book about something people want to learn about.  I don't particularly know about anything well enough to actually teach other people about it.  I know that writing a story is probably out of the question.  While I love to write stories, I have never actually finished anything I have started.  I have a lot of great prompts for a creative writing class though haha.

What is it that I am good at writing about then?  Is it simply writing what goes through my brain for a couple years and then submitting it as fiction?  Telling the world that I am not nearly as crazy as they think,; it is all fiction!  I am a perfectly sane individual, with a very strange thought process.

Perhaps, I can write my plans for world domination!  I can tell everyone how I shall plan to obtain minions and take over the world with my friends by my side.  I'd probably have to send that in as fiction as well... no one would actually believe that was nonfiction.  Heck, I don't even believe it.  But hey, don't tell anyone, I will still secretly take over the world on Pi Day in 2015.

More to come about Pi Day later.  And, yes, I was bored... My brain is fried from homework, and I know my thought process is erratic... I do apologize if I burned through some brain cells while you read this.

My favorite dinosaur...

... is the Thesaurus.

Don't let it all slip away, America

The following is a Jewish woman's eyewitness account of the loss of freedom in her native Austria during WWII.  (It must have been accompanied by a slide show presentation because there are some random phrases throughout the text.)


Well worth the read, please enjoy:

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December 22, 2012 - “What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or read in history books,” she likes to tell audiences.

“I am a witness to history.  I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history."

If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasn’t so lucky. Her family chose to stay in her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she was watching.

“We elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.  She wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she remembers.

“Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.”

No so.  Hitler is welcomed to Austria.

“In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent bank loan interest rates."

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs.

“My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.  We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933.” she recalls. “We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living."

Austrian girls welcome Hitler

“Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group – Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone in Germany was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back.

“Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

“We were overjoyed,” remembers Kitty, “and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and
everyone was fed."

Austrians saluting

“After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

“Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.

“Then we lost religious education for kids...

Poster promoting "Hitler Youth"

“Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school... The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang ‘Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,’ and had physical education.

“Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail.”
And then things got worse.

“The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free.  We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.

“My mother was very unhappy,” remembers Kitty. “When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination.

“I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing."

A pro-Hitler rally

“Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time, unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler.  It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of hu- manistic philosophy.

“In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death.

“Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

“Soon after this, the draft was implemented."

Young Austrians

“It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps,” remembers Kitty. “During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys.  They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines.

“When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat.
“Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

“When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately es- tablished child care centers.  You could take your children ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, seven days a week, under the total care of the government.

“The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

“Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna... After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything.  When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full.

“If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

“As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80 percent of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families.

“All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

“We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables.  Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands.

“Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

“We had consumer protection, too."

Austrian kids loyal to Hitler

“We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

“In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated.  So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work.

“I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van.  I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months.  They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.

“As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

“Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

“No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

“Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.

“This is my eye-witness account.

“It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

“America is truly is the greatest country in the world. Don’t let freedom slip away.

“After America, there is no place to go.”

Kitty Werthmann