By Their Mothers You Shall Know Them

As I recall, it was Carl Sandburg who somewhere in “The People, Yes” said, “Before you marry the daughter, take a good, long look at the mother.” Perhaps we could turn that around and say, “Before you marry the son, see how he treats his mother.” There is a good chance that he will treat his wife the same way. Do you think that statement is true?

Love Is All You Need

love -- (a strong positive emotion of regard and affection; ``his love for his work"; "children need a lot of love'' )
love, passion -- (any object of warm affection or devotion; ``the theater was her first love"; "he has a passion for cock fighting'' )
love -- (have a great affection or liking for; ``I love French food"; "She loves her boss and works hard for him'' )
love, enjoy -- (get pleasure from; ``I love cooking'' )
love -- (be enamored or in love with; ``She loves her husband deeply'' )

sexual love, lovemaking, making love, love, love life -- (sexual activities (often including sexual intercourse) between two people; ``his lovemaking disgusted her"; "he hadn't had any love in months"; "he has a very complicated love life'' )

roll in the hay, love, make out, make love, sleep with, get laid, have sex, know, do it, be intimate, have intercourse, have it away, have it off, screw, fuck, jazz, eff, hump, lie with, bed, have a go at it, bang, get it on, bonk -- (have sexual intercourse with; ``This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm"; "Adam knew Eve"; "Were you ever intimate with this man?")
nymphomania -- (abnormally intense sexual desire in women)
satyriasis -- (abnormally intense sexual desire in men)

agape, agape love -- (selfless love of one person for another without sexual implications (especially love that is spiritual in nature))
agape -- ((Christian theology) the love of God or Christ for mankind)
filial love -- (the love of a child for a parent)

Question:

If there were only one thing you could teach people about love, what would it be?

POP and PUP

I am sure that more than once you have heard people say, “If I only knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it.” Very early in our lives we have to make choices, among other things, about school, careers, marriage, children, and developing relationships with people on the job. George Bernard Shaw once lamented the fact that youth is wasted on the young. At a time when they need wisdom the most, many young people are devoid of it. As they age, through their life experiences individuals tend to develop wisdom, but so often at a time when they need it least.

If you had a time machine that would take you, the pretty old person (POP) back to the pretty unsophisticated person (PUP) that was you when you were young and faced with making pivotal decisions or overcoming obstacles at that time, what advice might you offer your younger self? Choose a critical decision that your younger self made that might have been different if your POP had been around to advise the PUP.

Example:

As a younger couple, my wife and I invested $30,000 in an undeveloped view lot in the mountains with the intention of building a second home on it. We never got around to it and sold the lot 21 years later for little more than we paid for it.

"POP Whit" uses the time machine to go back and visit with "PUP Whit":

POP: So you are giving some thought to buying an undeveloped lot in the mountains, are you?
PUP: Yes, POP. We like the view very much.
POP: Do you know anything about buying undeveloped lots?
PUP: No.
POP: Does the land have trees on it?
PUP: Yes, it has lots of trees.
POP: Are you aware that some of those huge trees will have to be removed and the lot prepared at considerable expense before you can build?
PUP: No. You mean it's that expensive to have 60-foot-tall trees removed?
POP: Yes, and have you done any research on the pitfalls in buying undeveloped land?
PUP: No.
POP: Will it require a septic tank?
PUP: Well, the real estate lady said that a sewer system is expected to go in within the next couple of years.
POP: Have you verified that?
PUP: No.
POP: There are two things you need to remember, PUP: the first is to investigate before you invest and the second is to trust, but verify.

A Spouse by Any Other Name

Have you ever noticed the pet names that husbands and wives and lovers have for one another? A pet name, as you know, is a name that you give a person that replaces his or her original name. A pet name is a way of saying to that person that he or she is unique, special, and appreciated. Instead of asking, “Gladys, would you help me with this?”, her husband might ask, “Sweet buns, would you help me with this?”. Of course, pet names should be used with care. For instance, a wife should never call her husband “Precious” in front of his buddies. He would never be able to live it down.

Here is a list of some of the pet names I have either seen in print or heard used by spouses and lovers for one another:

Lovey
Honey
Sweetie
Darling
Sweetheart

Dear
Dearest
Hon
Honey
Love

Sweetie-Pie
Pet
Honey-Pot
Sweet Pea
Sugar

Baby
Babe
Jewel
Snuggle-lumps
Precious

Honey-Bunny
Love-muffin
Studly do-right
Stud
Jiggies

Jug-jug
Poodle
Cuddle-wuddies
Snookums
The Rock

Lambikins
Pumpkin-poo
Dumpling
Spanky
Mr. Bear-buns

Lovey-dovey
Superman
Love-mama
Puddin’-cakes
Babe

Babydoll
Bullfrog
Snuggle Bunny
Sweetie Pie Face Cake
Bunnykins

Pinky Bear
Doodlebug
Punkin
Mommy
Daddy

Did you find your pet names among those listed above? If not, would you please add them to the list in the comments section of my post, and tell us why you chose those pet names for your spouse or lover.

The Sky’s the Limit

The creativity of some public school teachers, particularly in the elementary grades, never ceases to amaze me. I have just finished reading an article in, of all places, “Weather Watch” by Robert Krier. In the article, he relates how a fifth grade teacher began her school year by closing the blinds to her classroom and asking the class to describe what the sky looked like that day. Most of her pupils would end up by writing that the sky was either blue or gray.

The teacher would then take them outside, have them look up, and write what they saw. This activity became a daily ritual. Soon, her pupils were writing entire paragraphs about the cloud effects and the changing colors, and the drama of huge rain clouds forming before a rain.

This teacher used the sky as the theme for everything she taught that year--spelling, social science, science, art, literature, mathematics, history. The pupils learned to make predictions by predicting the weather; they learned graphing skills by graphing the temperature changes; they made a sundial large enough for the kids to stand and measure their shadows at different times of the day. In their study of the sky, the pupils incorporated elements of math, science, and astronomy.

For their fifth-grade state projects , the teacher had the pupils forecasting the weather. For art appreciation, she had them discuss how famous artists had depicted the sky in their works. She had them listen to and discuss how composers had treated sky themes. She had them read passages in literature showing how great writers had depicted the sky.

While engaged in all of these activities , the pupils were learning about their environment and the importance of protecting it. They were learning how to use their imagination and about the beauty of nature and how all of nature is interconnected. They learned how to make observations and to organize and express their thoughts, both orally and in written form.

Of course, in using this approach to learning, we trust that the teacher was aware that her pupils might not be fully prepared for the test-score-based curriculum demanded by the “No Child Left Behind” curriculum backed by the Bush administration. Better go back to the classroom with its emphasis on reading and math, the textbooks, the workbook pages, the memorization, and the preparation for the tests.