ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Sure, our itinerary got revised due to Swine Flu and layoffs are heavy on our minds and the economy sucks but....

We won't remember any of it when our view is of the ocean for 7 days straight. As Andy said, it's nice to have something to look forward to.

I went skydiving
I went rocky mountain climbing
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin'
And he said some day I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dyin'

- Tim McGraw, "Live Like You Were Dying"

I don't plan to skydive or rocky mountain climb but I AM making a list of things to do in this lifetime. I've known of some people whose lives were cut short due to illnesses or accidents that won't get to do all the things they wanted to do. I think we all hope and expect to live until 80 or more and think we have plenty of time but we may not!

I got this book called "The Wish List" by Barbara Ann Kipfer which has nearly 6,000 ideas for what might go on your Life List. I plan to whittle it down to 100. It's been pleasing to see that many things in the book are things I have already done but there's so much I haven't done and I can't wait to get started on my 100 item list.

I plan to post my list once I have it assembled. What's on your list?

From an ebook I'm reading:

For example, on a train ride between Slovakia
and Hungary a couple of years ago, I figured out that the cost of visiting 100 countries would be roughly equal to that of buying a new S.U.V. When I saw how relatively little that was, I felt encouraged.
I gave up the hypothetical large vehicle and received the world in return.

A cliché (from French, pronounced [kli'ʃeɪ]), or cliche, is a saying, expression, or idea which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning, especially when at some earlier time it was considered distinctively meaningful or novel, rendering it a stereotype.

Clichés are used by everyone because they make it easy to not think. Saying something you've heard over and over again without stopping to think what it means or how you feel about it is the easy way out.

Among the clichés I hate the most:
- It's the thought that counts. No, it isn't. It's the execution. I think a lot of things but it takes a lot more work to follow through.
- Parenting is great, kids are wonderful. Not always true. The typical thing seems to be that parents don't want to share the negative sides of parenting and just want to say how awesome their kid is. If we were all a little more honest about it, we'd spare other parents the heartache of feeling like they were the only ones finding it difficult.
- Marriage sucks. If it sucks so much, maybe you shouldn't be married? It's a choice to be married and I certainly don't want to cause someone to sit around and complain and be unhappy. Maybe if you used that energy on your marriage it wouldn't suck so bad.
- Countdowns until the weekend. My Facebook screen is often filled with people counting down until the weekend. Why? If Monday - Friday sucks that bad for you on a regular basis, maybe you should change what you're doing during the week. Weeekends can be fun but let's not constantly complain about what we are doing 71.42% of the time.
- The last election was the choice between the lesser of two evils. Nope, not true, although I heard it several times. We had two great men running for President and we are lucky to have had the choices we did. Saying this just kept people from having to think and engage in an intelligent discussion.

I'm sure there are others that I'm not listing but these are the ones that come to mind. The bottom line is that I wish people would just THINK more and avoiding clichés is a step in that direction.

I'm an unapologetic feminist. Not the kind that hates men but the kind that thinks women should have equal treatment as men. When we got married, I didn't want to be introduced as "Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Albert" but instead we were introduced as "Andy and Shannon Albert." I wasn't trying to make a statement; I just wanted to retain my own first name (at least!) and not be identified by my husband. I also took a year to get used to having a new name. In fact, my legal name is Shannon Rae Barnes Albert. I feel like getting married added on to who I already am vs. changing myself to be identified by my husband.

It is surprising, then, that I never questioned my salutation changing due to being married - especially since men don't change theirs. I'm about 30 years behind on this topic but it makes so much more sense to just call all women Ms. rather than changing from Miss to Mrs. due to marriage. Why do we identify women according to this anyway? It makes no sense. I will address Christmas cards to other women without the Miss or Mrs. from now on and would request that letters written to me do the same.

Hat tip to Blake for asking me about this. Same boy who asked me "can men be doctors or just women?" If male Republican feminists exist (surely they do), he's well on is way to joining them.