2004 Revisted?

Wow.

I’m living yet a new dimension of “many happy returns.”

That’s what a birthday is, a “solar return,” and technically, my birthday isn’t until February, but the season has begun. My longtime friend for over 2 decades, Drew, has moved back in with me. My ex-lover from 2004 , Cricket, has moved in for a while. AND my cat, Sphere, is back for a Christmas visit that may become permanent.

So, everyone is home except Storm, Sphere’s son, who died last year.

It’s warm and wonderful and the best Christmas present a girl could ever want. Well, there’s one other thing, but hey.

That’s perfectly okay!
 
I LOVE the Christmas/Channukah/New Year’s/Solstice Season !
 
If I am ever wondering if anybody cares or telling a bunch of lies that they don’t, all it takes is the holiday season for dozens of people literally to come out of the woodwork to remind me of all that I have forgotten.
 
*tears*

I’ve received season’s greetings from my mother & stepfather, my sister and her sons, one brother, one ex-husband, several ex-boyfriends, several girlfriends and friends, one teacher (well, that I’ve had classes with – they are all teachers!) and a few brand new friends, co-workers and a total stranger or 3.

One of my girlfriends, hilariously, spent the night in Katherine, Arkansas last night. She called to check in on some brunch plans for next week and we had a good laugh over the small world phenomenon. Paul lives in his old hometown now, as far as I know. He doesn’t seem to be capable of remaining friends, I guess. 

I woke up with Cricket cuddling me this morning, (Lorlaei is on the East Coast with family and he needs a place to stay till he finds a new job.)   Ms. Cat wanted breakfast. Drew was in the living room watching CSI with his headset on.
 
The trees had frost and ice frozen all around them all the way to work. If I hadn’t been traveling 50 mph on a single lane road, I would have pulled over to take pictures for my Southern coastal nieces, whose birthday is tomorrow, and who have never seen snow.
 
How glorious can it get?
 
How do I ever thank you all?  (Visions of Catherine Deneuve. Okay, I’m weird.)
 
All I want now is a husband.

I’ve been having this thought that maybe I’m done. Maybe I’ve had all the long-term lovers I’m going to have. I cry on that one. A bunch. Surely not.  I need to take pen to paper soon or something. And if it’s true?  What the hell?  I had had more lovers by the time I was 20 than most people have in their whole lives – so many good men (and a few women).  What if?  I think I’d be okay.  🙂
 
I’m okay Now.

And Now.

And Now.

Love, Ann

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

                              

                                     – JRR Tolkein

5 Minutes to Deep Peace on Thursday 9/13

You will be entertained at the very least and enlightenment is an option.

http://advancedmeditation.com/cmd.php?Clk=2095310

Thursday, 9/13, there is a teleconference call where you can learn more about this. There will be sample meditations and a chance at a free gift worth $400.

http://advancedmeditation.com/cmd.php?Clk=2095310 

Trust me. You want to try this. The IAM Meditations are the product of the fertile mind of Steven Sashen who is also responsible for much of the Shampoo Method we talk about here every day.

It’s completely safe. I’d trust this guy with my life.

This feeling, this is what we have all been looking for our whole lives. It’s like coming home.

Love, Ann  

Memory Day

Daddy’s birthday is this week. I will sing Happy Birthday to him. I love catching up and seeing how he is doing. He travels a lot.

I am traveling this weekend myself.

I am meeting an old friend who got in touch with me from our high school days. Sounds like a pretty exciting trip.

So, I’m officially taking a bit of a break till next week. I may write. I may not.

I have at least 5 or 6 new missives waiting in the wings as ideas or essays that need editing. Oh, plus the Friendship Series that we began a few days back.

It’s going to be good. It’s going to be really good, y’all.

Have a fabulous Memory Day.

Love, Ann

“Make new friends, but keep the old,

One is silver and the other’s gold.”

               – Round Sung at Girl Scout Camp, etc.

Roe v. Wade Related to Decrease in Crime

“Legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime.”

http://www.nber.org/papers/w8004 

Abortion has been in the news again, according to my friends who follow such things. No one seriously expects us to lose this right to control our bodies and our lives, but I am not taking any chances. I’m going to say something. Here. Now. 

I almost never get political about anything. Ask anyone who knows me. I’m all about taking care of what is in front of me, things I can actually do something about, and contributing by example. But when Julie told me about this at the Inspirational Reading Group on Saturday I decided to look it up.

Here is the Abstract of the study:

NBER Working Paper No. 8004^*
Issued in November 2000
NBER Program(s):   CH    LE    PE

—- Abstract —–

We offer evidence that legalized abortion has contributed significantly to recent crime reductions. Crime began to fall roughly 18 years after abortion legalization. The 5 states that allowed abortion in 1970 experienced declines earlier than the rest of the nation, which legalized in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. States with high abortion rates in the 1970s and 1980s experienced greater crime reductions in the 1990s. In high abortion states, only arrests of those born after abortion legalization fall relative to low abortion states. Legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime.

^*Published: Donohue, John J., III and Steven D. Levitt. “The Impact Of Legalized Abortion On Crime,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2001, v116(2,May), 379-420.

That’s huge.

I was a part of that.

I have had 2 abortions and 2 miscarriages in my life. 

Here is something the American Catholics have to say about it:

http://www.americancatholic.org/messenger/jan2000/Editorial.asp

I fully expect flames for this post. I will publish all reasonable commentary that is not rude or disrespectful whether or not you agree with me, as usual.

My support of abortion, since 1973 when I was old enough to care or think about such things, the same year I chose to have sex for the first time, had nothing to do with reducing the crime rate. My decision is about choice and a woman’s right to make choices about her life and her body.

I am thrilled that it has contributed to a reduced crime rate.

Your comments may give me thoughts to question or investigate, tensions to relax, paradoxes to re-pair, etc. but as Steven once told me, “Some things are just true.”

“Legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime.”

(see study link above)

Love, Ann

Christmas Eve

I went to my normal Sunday morning brunch. Most of it was great. Then Becky (remember Becky? She’s the one that stopped speaking to me when I moved to Atlanta. She’s starting to make peace again, little by little.) Anyway, Becky asked me how my birthday was and I burst into tears. I told her my goal for my birthday was to make it to bedtime without crying, and I did. She said, “You were alone on your birthday, weren’t you?”

*sigh*

She and Jared can make me cry faster than anyone I know.

It’s not mean. They just know me. They ask intimate questions and when it’s a sore spot, they really hit the mark.

Tomorrow will be like that, too. My goal will be to make it till bedtime without crying.

Love, Ann