Thoughts on Marriage

I don't know if my random thoughts this morning is due to my complete lack of sleep this week. Josh got up at 2 am then again at 5 and I've been up ever since. I got an email from a good friend of mine mentioning her mother in law.. but she's not really her mother in law because her and her boyfriend aren't married. So that made me think... How do you really define marriage?

When my husband and I were getting married we had weekly meetings with the minister at my church. On the first night he asked us for our addresses. I answered first then he looked at my then-fiance for his. He and I looked at eachother, then at the minister and said- "it's the same address....??" We said it with that higher pitch at the end of the sentence as if we were asking if we had answered correctly. I didn't want to lie, but I really didn't want to tell the truth either. But then I thought lying to a minister in a church wouldn't look good on my rap sheet on judgement day.

I'm about to get spiritual on you all so if you're not into that, don't say I didn't warn you.

Everyone views marriage in either one of two categories or in both. Marriage is a) a legal bond between two people and the state of Ohio (or where ever) or b) a spiritual bond between two people promised before God.

I challenge this question: What did they consider marriage before there were laws? Did they just get together with their preist and say "we're gettin' hitched?" I always used to think marriage was a sacred bond between two people and the Lord. Keeping God in our marriage has helped us stay afloat. As I'm growing up and able to form my own ideas (other than what my parents had burned into my brain) I'm seeing marriage in different forms.

During our pre-marital counseling my minister discussed his views of intimacy and "living in sin" after we reluctantly disclosed our living and intimacy arrangements. He said that it was Ok by him. WHAT? We had made a promise to eachother that we wouldn't stray from one another. I have to agree with that. Though it wasn't legally official until our wedding day, we had already made that promise toward one another and toward God so we were in a way already married.

So this brings me to the point of legality and marriage. What ever happened to common law? My friend has been living with her boyfriend for YEARS. Their kids have grown up together, their families are close, etc. So how shouldn't she have the same legal rights as a married person (and vise versa). Maybe a bad relationship spoiled the idea of marriage- should that ban her from the legal benefits just because she doesn't want to take the plunge again?

Thought to ponder on this Thursday... Thank God it's almost the weekend!

"I Am Phoenix" Hear Me Roar

UoP Always Takes the Blame for Lazy Asses

Yeah, so maybe it's not a Harvard, an Ohio State or even a Tri-C, but it's a fully accredited university. I too was sceptical when I took the bold step of re-entering college. If it weren't for my former boss giving the University of Phoenix such an awesome boost, I would have never even considered it.

After two years at my former job I realized that I couldn't go anywhere without my degree. I couldn't get a new job because I hadn't completed my bachelors (and at the time wasn't planning to) and my job wouldn't move me up because of the fact that I didn't have a degree. Even though they knew I'd be the right person for the Account Management position, the door was slammed in my face.

I went to see an enrollment counselor and a month later I was starting my new class. I was probably the youngest person in the class. That's ok. For some reason I have always gotten along better with people older than me. In all of my classes the last 2 1/2 years I've learned so much about the management field (my major) and how you apply the information learned to life. One of the things I like the most is that every student works. You all learn from eachothers experiences and the facilitators ("teachers") teach you from their real-world experience. I know one thing for sure is that my working experience has helped me apply much of what I learned which is why I am where I am today.

If I hadn't taken that marketing class at the right time (while working at the nursing home) I don't know if I'd have the opportunity to be working for such a great company. I have the coolest job ever. I'm the only one there who hasn't completed their degree yet, and I from what I understand the only one there who hadn't had a previous marketing role. At the nursing home I was more like "helping out" with the marketing - even though I did the entire marketing plan and get almost no credit for it... anyways...

I'm SO sick of people like this complaining about how they didn't learn from their teachers and they didn't get a real education. Well, if you did the work you would learn something from it. UoP teaches you the most recent trends in some very diverse industries. I sometimes wonder how I'll keep up with the working world after I graduate (aside from being bored to death by the business section of the Plain Dealer).

This person is also complaining that she stayed up until 2 am just to get through... HELLO?!!? You ARE in college, right? Isn't that how it's supposed to be? Ok, maybe I've never stayed up until 2 am but that's just because my sleep is very important to me. But I have experienced the stress of college life. And after it's all said and done I never have to go back! I'll finally have my degree. That little piece of paper that's cost me $40,000. *BARF*

That's just a quick run down of what really grinds my gears this morning.