Friday, December 30, 2011

Without Your Love

One night a guy and a girl were driving home from the movies. The boy sensed there was something wrong because of the painful silence they shared between them that night. The girl then asked the boy to pull over because she wanted to talk. She told him that her feelings had changed & that it was time to move on.

A silent tear slid down his cheek as he slowly reached into his pocket & passed her a folded note.

At that moment, a drunk driver was speeding down that very same street. He swerved right into the drivers seat, killing the boy. Miraculously, the girl survived. Remembering the note, she pulled it out & read it. "Without your love, I would die."

FROM: Short Romantic Love Stories

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

‘Friends with benefits’ relationships don’t work out

By Gabie Bacques


Stop sneaking into the closet with your band buddies. You might end up dead. Or worse — pregnant.

Contrary to how Hollywood may portray "friends with benefits," these glamorous relationships just don't work out. In fact, they fail miserably.

Whether it starts as an agreement or results from a rebound, the pattern's typically the same. Two people hook up and decide it was obviously fun and exciting, and they want it to be more than a one night stand. Now, at this point some people agree to not wanting anything more than physical interactions, or they agree to stay friends while hooking up.

This proves to be problematic as time goes on because it never goes according to this carefree plan. Hang-outs and hook-ups are more frequent, and a relationship begins to form without a little thing called commitment.

From here, it becomes apparent that communication can be a destructive force. Someone wants a relationship or expects exclusivity while the other increases distance to avoid those looming feelings, and both are afraid to talk about it. Besides, any relationship spawning from such shallow terms is basically doomed from the start.

Often, at least one of the people involved are scared of being alone. They maintain this destructive, empty cycle of a relationship because, for some reason, they think not having that connection will be so devastatingly lonely they refuse to end it. In the meantime, they are delaying the inevitable, strengthening emotional attachments and ending up far more damaged from someone they allegedly didn't have feelings for.

I'm simply tired of people being upset over this unnecessary drama created by their own self-indulgent habits.

It starts out fun, and somehow ends up in heartbreak. I understand this is college and for some reason people think they need to sleep around to make the most of it, but I really don't see the point in causing more stress. According to the College Student Journal, a little more than half of college students are involved in an uncommitted partnership. Receiving a temporary boost of self-esteem, women tend to seek the friendship, while men reap the benefits.

It may be convenient, but the consequences are not.

It's pretty simple. If two people are spending time being intimate, or even just having sex, something more is going to come of that — it's in our nature. When we produce oxytocin from sexual activity, it generates feelings of security and comfort. The more often two individuals spend producing this hormone together, the more secure and comfortable they feel with each other.

It's becoming so common in our culture to say sex is just something people do and it doesn't have any more depth than that. This is probably true for very few individuals.

However, we need to stop trying to pretend we all want sex and nothing more, because that's not true. We want to be loved, cared for and respected, and anyone who disagrees is selling themselves short.

The realistic consequences of casual sex are an entirely different topic for discussion, but I'm honestly over this trend of beneficial friends. It might be fun for a little while, but then it's just exhausting, difficult and not worth the trouble.

While my personal moral instincts go against using someone like an aspiring actress, I know most people don't feel the same way at this point in their lives. If you do insist on an unconventional relationship, take it like a champ and quit whining to your friends about it.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

A Visit From St. Nicholas

by Clement Clarke Moore



was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

Sleeping Mouse

Stockings in the Fireplace


he children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,



The children were nestled

hen out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.



He sprang from the bed




he moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,



what to my wondering eyes should appear





ith a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:


Flying Birds


ow, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"


Reindeer sleigh on the roof


Reindeer sleigh on the roof


Blustering leaves
Blustering leaves
s dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.


Blustering leaves

nd then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.




e was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.


He looked like a peddler





is eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;



The beard of his chin was as white as the snow


he stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.


He had a broad face and a little round belly



e was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;


He filled all the stockings



e spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;


up the chimney he rose


e sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

he drove out of sight


Friday, December 16, 2011

The Gift of the Magi


"The Gift of the Magi"  is a nice story to read during the Christmas Season.




The Gift of the Magi is the story of Mr. and Mrs. James Dillingham Young, otherwise known as Jim and Della. It is Christmas Eve and all the money that Della has scrimped and saved for Jim’s gift totals one dollar and eight-seven cents.

The Young’s are very poor; a point that the narrator quickly establishes by describing the shabby estate of their apartment and by the mention of a salary that has shrunken from $30 a week to $20 a week. Della has humiliated herself by haggling at the shops and managed to scrimp away 60 cents of the $1.87 in pennies.

Della has a fit of self-pity as she tries to determine how to buy Jim a worthy gift when suddenly she jumps up and views herself in the pier glass. She lets down her glorious hair; hair that is the pride and joy of both Della and Jim. According to the narrator, Della and Jim have two possessions that are the treasures of the household, Della’s hair and Jim’s watch, which is an inheritance from his grandfather. The narrator underscores the value of these treasures by saying that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba would be jealous of them despite their own immense wealth.



Read O'Henry's original work at Project Gutenberg.

Monday, December 12, 2011

This is what love is all about

by Safiyya

It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30AM, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 AM.

As a nurse, I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his stitches and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The elderly gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's as we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.


I was surprised, and asked him, "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."
I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life."

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be and will not be.

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything The Map of Luxury; they just make the best of everything they have.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Elderly couple’s love story 65 years long

by Samantha House

The bride and groom stand side by side before a minister, hands entwined. His hand blankets her tiny hand entirely, keeping it warm. She smiles radiantly, stealing occasional glances at her groom. He stands straight and proud, never wavering from his bride’s side.

Elvis Presley croons “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in the background to set the mood for their nuptials. From the looks on Mavis Walczyk and Ralph Black’s face, it’s easy to see the two are in love.

But Walczyk and Black’s romance is no fledgling flame. Their love story is 65 years in the making.

Black said his and Walczyk’s first encounter stretches back to when she was 8 and he was 11. She was simply his friend’s kid sister then, a friendly figure in a house he loved being in.

“We grew up together,” Black, now 86, explained. “I really grew up in their home as much as in my own.”

Walczyk, née Barber, belongs to one of Weedsport’s most well-known families. Ernie Barber, Walczyk’s father, opened Barber Welding with his brother in the village more than half a century ago. Over 58 years later, the family welding company still calls Weedsport home.

Black looked up to Walczyk’s father and spent a great deal of his childhood in the Barber home. He said he and Walczyk often passed central New York’s long winters twirling around frozen ponds.

“I think we skated our life away,” he remembers with a smile.

Then World War II ravaged the world, inspiring a 17-year-old Black to use his skills as a pilot to defend his country. After being officially enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 18, Black flew planes until the war’s conclusion.

When he returned home, the childhood acquaintances became more than friends. Walczyk said she and Black “went together” for five years. Black even bought his sweetheart a ring.

However, it seemed their union, for a time, was not to be.

As a young nursing student living in Auburn, Walczyk’s heart was captured by the suave Louis Walczyk.
“He swept Mavis off her feet because Ralph was slow on the trigger,” Kathleen Hultz, Walczyk’s eldest daughter, said.

And so the former sweethearts married other people. Walczyk had nine children, and Black had four.
“They had a nice marriage, and so did I,” Black said.

When Walczyk was widowed in 2008, Black broke their decades of silence by being the first person to send a sympathy card. Four months after Louis Walczyk’s death, Black, already a widower, asked his former sweetheart on a date.

“They’re back together, and they’re happy as clams,” Hultz said, adding that she and her siblings are happy the two reunited.

On Nov. 11, Walczyk’s 83 birthday, the couple embarked on a journey they once intended to take more than 50 years ago. In a delicate wedding dress she purchased from the Salvation Army, shortened and died blue, Walczyk holds a bouqet of orange, yellow and red roses as she faces her soon-to-be husband.

Surrounded  by their families in Walczyk’s son Steve’s kitchen, the bride and her groom promise to love each other and slide wedding rings onto eachother’s fingers. With two tears running down his cheeks and a brilliant smile on her face, Black holds Walczyk’s smiling face in his hands and kisses her, again and again.

“Kiss her again, dad,” shouts Black’s daughter.

And, clasping his wife’s hand, he does.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Splendor in the Grass

Natalie Wood's mysterious death has been in the news again, after so many decades.  Following is a portion of the script in what I consider her most meaningful movie: Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass".  It is a milepost to the changing values of society, the divide between the present generation and mine.  Somehow, it makes me sad.


A prudish Mrs. Loomis asserts that women don't enjoy sex or have sexual urges, and that they dutifully have sex with their husbands only to have children. She was always physically repelled by her husband and men's aggressive tendencies. But a virginal Deanie is already experiencing (and repressing) strong, out-of-control physical drives, although she struggles with wanting to be 'a good girl' and worries about staying pure until marriage. [Her bedroom's decorations - including a brown bear on top of her pillow - project her childlike innocence that's on the verge of breaking traditional bounds.]:

Deanie: But Mom, didn't, didn't you ever - well, I mean, didn't you ever feel that way about Dad? (She hugs and clutches onto her mother in a desperate fashion)
Mrs. Loomis: Your father never laid a hand on me until we were married. And then I-I just gave in because a wife has to. A woman doesn't enjoy those things the way a man does. She just lets her husband come near her in order to have children. (Deanie stands with her back toward her mother.) Deanie, what's troubling you?
Deanie: Oh, nothing, Mom.
After her mother leaves, Deanie throws herself onto her bed, casts away her brown bear in disgust, grabs her pillow, and thrusts her chest into it. Her sexual longings burst forth as she imagines hugging her sweetheart while glancing at Bud's many pictures plastered above her dresser. Deanie caresses each one with a kiss, and then kneels at her bedside to recite the Lord's Prayer.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Cliffside Wedding

by Tito Eric

Now, this has got to be the most romantic scene I have witnessed this year – a wedding held at Amorita’s Cliffside Deck overlooking Alona Beach.



From what I was told, here’s how it all happened. This young Russian couple walked in at the resort’s front office without any reservation. They said they wanted to check in and be married in the resort’s premises the following day; willing to pay for everything in advance if necessary. Without batting an eyelash, the front office attendant said, “Certainly!”

Right after the couple was ushered into their room, a flurry of activities ensued. And sure enough, on the appointed time the next day, the staff of Amorita had perfectly arranged everything as if under the spell of a magic wand. From getting a pastor to conduct the ceremony, right down to acquiring some fireworks to light up the evening sky to herald the couple’s marital bliss.

FROM: Turning Boholano

Friday, December 2, 2011

Love

by Kahlil Gibran

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them.
And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

FROM: The Prophet