New Meme

We see memes all over the internet that ask us to talk about ourselves. Bloggers pass along questions about favorite toppings for salads. Myspace abounds with questionnaires about sex partners. And let's face it, it isn't difficult to get people to talk about themselves.

Today, I'd like to suggest a new one. It's simple, but I think it's well worth the time. Let's spread one to show appreciation for those in our lives who deserve it.

Five things I love about my spouse:
1. He is kinder to other people than to himself.
2. He has strong faith.
3. He always encourages me.
4. We share "inside jokes." He always makes me laugh.
5. He is strong, inside and out.

Five things I love about other family members:
1. My children are fiercely loyal to the people they love.
2. My mother taught me as much with action as with words that God is love.
3. My father gave me his sense of humor.
4. Pat and Jean took on new grandkids as though they'd always been theirs.
5. My sisters -- too wide an array of things I'd like to say to narrow it down to once sentence, other than that I really miss them.

Five things I'm proud of in people I love:
1. Ceidwen and Andy worked doggone hard to graduate from high school and jump into the adult world.
2. Shannon is possibly the best young writer I've known.
3. Siena and Calvin, no matter how much they argue, always forgive and move on.
4. Mona and David are frighteningly clever.
5. Joel has a sense of honor and duty that awes me.

Five happy memories I have about people I love:
1. The many, many times my mother stood up for me when I was getting bullied.
2. When I was little, my older sister Marilyn would say she was magic. My younger sister and I would demand that she prove it, and she would say how. "Make us some candy!" we would shout. Of course, she knew ahead of time that we would ask for that, and had planned ahead by buying one candy bar for each of us.
3. When Andy was four, he rushed into the apartment from outside, windswept and excited, and announced delightedly, "It's a leafy day out there!"
4. Playing board games with Veronica, especially the hangman-type game we used to play. She always came up with the good words, like "victuals" and "cardboard."
5. Meeting Joel for the first time. A tall, handsome, youthful-looking blond man stepped off the plane, spotted my smile, and veered straight toward me. He put his arms around me and kissed me for all he was worth, in the middle of the terminal, for several minutes. Then he slowly pulled his head away and looked into my yes, and said "I hope to God you're Christina."

Five things I want to thank God for:
1. All of the above.
2. That my kids all enjoy good health, minds, and circumstances.
3. Forgiveness.
4. That God knows better than I do what's good for me.
5. New opportunities.

Tagged: all the wives among ye.