Thankfulness in November

                                                Me n My Sis and her babies. Thxgiving 2010

Today is Thanksgiving Day, the day where we all eat lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pie, (and in my house,) pancit and rice cake. We watch football, scope out the black Friday ads, and hang out with family. More importantly, this is the day where we are supposed to reflect on our lives and say what we are thankful for. I just wanted to make a quick post listing all the things I am thankful for in my life. These silly things and amazing people all make my life enjoyable in a way I could never truly express accurately in words. Here goes. . .
I am thankful for-
-Dark Chocolate therapy.
-Coffee that keeps me awake for life.
-Dancing.
-Beautiful music that I sing along to.
-Heated blankets that keep me alive during the winter.
-My wonderful friends that understand me, listen to my jabbering, and I can trust with everything.
-My mac, cause PCs are ishy.
-My beautiful niece and nephews that challenge me to be a good role model and constantly remind me that there is still a 5 year old inside me somewhere.
-My car that gives me the freedom to go wherever I want.
-My kitty cats that never criticize and are always purring and happy.
-Fairytales for allowing me to dream, even as an adult.
-My boyfriend that supports me, takes care of me, and makes me smile like no one else can.
-Sharpie pens because they make homework fun.
-Having such great coworkers that I can honestly call friends.
-My parents for molding me into the person I am today and providing me with everything I've ever needed.
-Being employed.
-Living in MN. As much as I complain about the snow and cold, I can't imagine a winter without it (complaining included).
-My brother for being my "big brother": for poking fun at me like a big bro, but also for protecting me like a big bro.
-Being in school; it'll get me to where I want to be in life sooner or later.
-My big sis for always, always, always listening to me ramble, giving me such great advice, and being there when I need anything.
-Much more, but I won't bore you any longer :)

We all have something to be thankful for, even if it's as silly as Sharpie Pens. :)
Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving from my heart.

Love and Happiness,
Rach

The Expiration Date of Love.

It's been quite a while since my last blog. I have a horrible habit of thinking about what I want to blog about and even beginning my blog and saving a draft but I never actually publish it. Oops! I tend to forget my train of thought or lose passion for the topic so I never finish it. I will try my hardest to make publishing blogs my new habit! I love sharing and getting feedback so look out for my upcoming pieces.

This semester I am taking Interpersonal Communications at the U and I find this class to be SO intriguing. It discusses the different dynamic relationships we all have; covering family, friends and romantic relationships. There are several reasons as to why this class is so appealing to me- I can relate to the material so easily and can find couples that fit the theories to a T. But more importantly, I find people to be extremely captivating. I have always been fascinated with cultural anthropology and have considered this as a future profession multiple times. I love watching, studying and analyzing people and their behaviors that I find myself doing this daily anyway. Anyhow, I had motivation for writing this blog for one reason:

yesterday's topic was "Love."

Love and love lost is experienced around the world in every country, everyday. If you're lucky you have experienced love. If you're really lucky, you've experienced love lost. You learn so much about yourself when you fall in love, and learn even more when that love fails. 

I am very fortunate in that my parents are still together after about 30 years of marriage (Go Mom and Dad! :P ). My parents have provided me with a good example of what a lasting marriage looks like. Despite this, I am still fairly skeptical of marriage in general based on current statistics in America and the marriages I have seen crumble.

According to my professor, a study was recently held in California selecting 40 marriages that have lasted 20+ years. Of the 40 couples, none of the couples could stand their significant other anymore. NONE. 
WHAT?! None? Really?

In my research to find an accurate divorce rate, I ran into this rather surprising chart-
Age at marriage for those who divorce in America

Age	Women	Men
Under 20 years old	27.6%	11.7%
20 to 24 years old	36.6%	38.8%
25 to 29 years old	16.4%	22.3%
30 to 34 years old	8.5%	11.6%
35 to 39 years old	5.1%	6.5%

http://www.divorcerate.org/

Ok, so I guess in order to have the best chance at staying married I better wait until I'm 39 years old+ until I contemplate marriage and even then, after 20 years of marriage I might hate my husband.
How depressing! There are tons of reasons as to why the divorce rate is what it is today including the empowerment and education of women, autonomous lifestyle we live, narcissistic mindset, etc. etc. etc. The life expectancy is (and has been) slowly rising in America which pressures us to try to force the life expectancy of love to stretch over that lengthened time.

I'm not going to go into detail about these reasons because I hope they're pretty self explanatory but given these stats and facts, how can we feel sure about a relationship and the stability of that love over time? How do we walk into a relationship or marriage not already wondering if it will eventually fail? I have proposed an interesting idea, is there an expiration date on love?

Now that I am 22 years old, friends getting engaged, married and having babies are popping up EVERYWHERE. I never would have thought I would be seeing this trend so soon. This furthers the skepticism of marriage in my mind because it seems inevitable that these marriages will eventually fail according to the stats in America. It is said that after the first 15 months of a relationship, the initial passion and infatuation begins to wear off and the "real" personalities of people surface which determines the future of the relationship. I do not understand in the least bit these marriages that take place within that time frame. Love fades. To base a life and family "til death do you part" on such a temporary feeling seems so silly at times.

I am just rambling and throwing up mental love vomit on you and don't really know what my point is. I want to know how you interpret the statistics of divorce and how you maintain optimism on love, relationships, and marriage. And maybe there is no 'right' way to describe love. . .

“Love is just a word, a label; real love is unexplainable.” -Anonymous