Ugh, that's a lot, sara. Poor them!

Jilli, that's awesome.

Please enjoy the comments here: [link]

Please enjoy the comments here: [link]

Ahahaha! Love it.

That was the perfect antidote to the coverage I just watched of the new Batman.

Please enjoy the comments here: [link]

Excellent.

That was SUCH an interesting article!

The fact that I married remains a source of constant surprise. According to the precepts of the article, I have both married down and up -- Dan is 5 years younger than me, makes more money, and only (only, heh) has a BA.

None of my girlfriends are single anymore, but most of my friends live in the same city, and many within a mile or two of each other, and 75% of my close girlfriends are women I have known for over 20 years. What's more, many of the men they have married are also people I have known for years, and the women (I've talked about our 18 year (Jesus, 18 years!) tradition of "girly parties") regularly keep in contact -- we have women only gatherings, men only gatherings and then mixed gatherings. But the women-only gatherings are more frequent, deliberate (and, um, more awesome, since we plan better) and often focus on skills and deliberately nurturing bonds -- crafting parties, girl's nights out, which used to be focused on hooking up, but now focus on talking about a wide assortment of things, from the mundane (Fran turned me on to the Swiffer vaccuum) to the political.

About half of us kept our names after marriage; half took their partners.

I'm rambling, but the article made me really thoughtful, thinking about community standards, and community support.

When my husband's ex made lots of noise about us needing to move to be closer to M, my step-son, I told D frankly that I would stay married to him, if he felt the need to move, but that I wouldn't be moving. My community is a bastion to me.

I never felt the need to be married -- I like being married to D, but the state of being coupled for coupling's sake was never vital.

My friendships were far more important and relevant to me than finding ONE romantic partner. I am nurtured in different ways by different people, and I do the same.

There are just so many ways for people to live -- alone and solitary, alone and social, paired or connected in romantic or sexual relationships in monogamous or polyamorous committed or casual relationships. The author nailed it -- with people being such diverse individuals with differing emotional needs and make-ups, it's ridiculous for one social institution to have such rigid defined borders from society. People have been quietly defining their own ideas of partnership and community for thousands of years -- it's time to talk more openly about how vastly different it can and should be.

Sorry I rambled, but I just REALLY loved this article!

The BK closest to my job has free wifi. I have resigned to the fact that my weight will double in the near future.

I am at O'Hare waiting to board a plane that will take me to Phoenix, and then on to Lihue. I'm too tired to loathe all of humanity. I merely find them irritating.

I'm drinking coffee, not going to Hawaii, on Day Two of the Garage Sale, and it's 43 frickin' degrees.

I envy shrift.

CJ got his first fire call this morning. ARP assists the local fire dept on structure fires, providing traffic control, fresh oxygen tanks and whatever other non-fire fighting assistance is needed. This one is a house fire less than 3 miles from our place. He wants to be a fireman someday, so he is very excited. The fire itself seems small and already under control. No ambulances so I'm assuming the people got out ok.