Problems or Blessings - I'ts All in How You Look at It

I have been complaining about everything I need to do this week. How everything seems to be going against me. And then, something happens to bring all my "problems" into perspective.

 

 Yesterday, my Great Aunt passed away after several months of illness. This evening, I find out that a friend's husband passed away today. And it all becomes so clear - my problems are aren't really problems at all.

You see, my so-called problems are:
1. Related to work - which means I have a job when so many today do not;
2. Related to family stress - which means I have a family that loves me to come home to each night; and
3. Related to the vacation I'm taking next week - which means I have the time and means to take an awesome trip with friends that I love.

Yeah, I don't really have any problems and I vow to stop complaining - cause they are all really blessings in disguise. God is Good - All the Time!

 

Lynnetta

Valentine's Day and the (terminally) Single Girl

February 14th.

Sounds pretty harmless, doesn't it?

But drag out its AKA and it brings up all kinds of images.

Valentine's Day ... a time for love. Romance. Red roses, chocolate, and special dates.

Unless you're single. Terminally single. As in haven't been any where near romance in so long you've forgotten what it looks like. Then Valentine's Day... February 14th ... a Day for LOVE ... is just another day on the life's lonely highway. Except that this day, if you're alone, you're made to feel like you have somehow failed. While everyone else is all hearts and flowers and love (oh my!), you're just the one with no one to love. The lonely girl in the corner, all alone, an object to be pitied. Awwwww!

I think us single ones should have a holiday of our very own. Let's call if Fabulous Freedom Day! A day when going out alone is not shameful, but celebrated! When not being tied down to one person is a GOOD thing! When you buy yourself flowers and chocolate and jewelry and cards and no one thinks its strange. And all those people in the loving, committed relationships will be jealous (or we can pretend they are).

It will be my greatest accomplishment. Making my own holiday! Just think, millions of single people will remember me idea and thank me for it.

And then FEbruary 14th won't be such a sucky day on the calendar.

Ain't Netter

Thank You For Your (Re)Gift

Every year I hear more and more about the practice of regifting - that is, taking a gift given to you by someone else and giving it as a gift to another person and passing it off as your own. Some claim it's a thrifty way to get rid of unwanted items. Some think it's just tacky.

Let's take the example of my co-worker, who is well-known in our circle for her regifting. I can hardly remember a Christmas when she didn't give me something that she obviously got as a gift herself. One year I got some a gift basket full of things from my alma mater which were obviously not new. I knew they couldn't be something she received because she went to a different school. But then I remembered that her younger sister went to my alma mater and that said sister had recently had a big yard sale. But that's not even her biggest regifting move. When her three kids receive gifts for Christmas or their birthdays, if they don't play with them after a week, she puts them up and uses them for gifts for the birthday parties her kids are invited to later. Yes, she really does that!

I was listening to a radio commenter this week who made a great point on this whole practice of regifting. He said when you give someone a gift, it means they mean something to you. So, by regifting, you're really saying they mean nothing to you. If fact, you're saying "You mean so little to me that I'm giving you something that I didn't even like enough to keep." Makes you think, doesn't it?

As for me, I am (obviously) against regifting. When I receive something I don't like, I always give the giver a sincere thank you (since they did think enough of me to spend their money). I may give it away, but I don't pass it off as my own. Like the earrings I received last Christmas. They really weren't my style, but my teenaged niece thought they were cool, so I gave them to her. As for the other not-my-style gifts, I either shove them in a closet somewhere or donate them to a charity yard sale (if I'm absolutely sure the giver won't be shopping there).

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Ain't Netter