HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-04-29, Page 37Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - Page A37
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Deadlines: Friday @ 3 p.m.
Holiday Weekends Friday @ 10 a.m.
The silver lining of realism
A few days ago a friend of mine
said, "I wish I had known that
marriage was so hard. I might
have started lool.ing for the good
things a long time ago."
What if optimism isn't always
the best thing? What if there are
times in our lives when it is actu-
ally better to expect things to be
difficult? What if always hoping
and imagining the best actually
hurts us and make our lives more
difficult?
When I was young, I loved
musicals. I specifically loved the
Sound of Music. Well, after watch-
ing it over 200 times, I think that
it definitely impacted what I
thought life was all about – spe-
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cifically child-rearing. I thought
that all I had to do was love the
children, sing wonderful songs,
play with them, be positive and
upbeat and they would follow me
happily. Our days . would be filled
with joy, ease, song and love.
Ahhhhh... It would be so lovely!
Apparently, reality had a differ-
ent plan. My first child was col-
icky. He cried and cried. He barely
slept for the first year (nor did I). I
sang. I danced. I cried. I worried.
But most of all, I felt like a failure.
Why wasn't it working? Why
wasn't my love and unending
attention enough? What was I
doing wrong? I became depressed.
All I could see was everything that
I must have been doing wrong –
everything that wasn't going along
according to plan. They weren't
happy times – for anybody.
But what if I hadn't been sub-
consciously brainwashed by Julie
Andrews? What if I had been told
that raising children can be very
difficult; that some children cry
for months at a time;
that you might not
sleep soundly for
years; that each c
is challenge in
entirely different
ways; but that in the
end, the struggle is
completely worth it?
What if that is what I
believed?
Maybe I would have looked at
the situation differently. Maybe I
wouldn't have focused . on what
was going wrong so much.Maybe
I would . have been more thankful
for the small things that were
going right. Maybe the silver lin-
ing might have been more obvious
if I hadn't felt like I'd missed the
mark somehow.
And what about marriage?
When you find that one special
person, it's supposed to be perfect,
right? When Sister Maria and
Captain VonTrapp realized that
they were in love and finally got
married, their life was blissful,
right? All issues just melted in the
glow and passion of their love.
The challenge is just finding the
perfect person. After that, love
will show us the way, right?
Well, this is what I expected
when I got married. I found the
man – the love of my life. After
that, everything would be flowers,
love, and song, right? Well, not so
much. It turns out that we are each
individual people (shocking!). It
turns out that we each have our
own opinions on nearly every
topic that you can imagine. After
17 years of marriage, I'm not sure
that it's love that keeps us together
as much as patience, understand-
ing, compassion, and a huge dose
'riends & Family'Are Invited to a
tag & Doe
for
Shelby Dines
Kirk Killam
:.: Friday, May $, 2009
Spm - lam"
Saltford Valley Hall
Lunch Provided/ Music by DJY6
Taxi Service
Tickets $5.00
Age of Majority
For Tickets contact
Kylie - 524-5782 ..
22/11/111111
Terra- X440 -0588
.‘\,i
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Os
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1,1a01P
HAPPY 90TH
BIRTHDAY
GRACE BLACK
May 1st
of maturity.
Because I expected "marriage to
the right person" to be effortless,
every time we had. struggles, I
always wondered what was wrong.
Had we made a mistake? What
was I doing wrong? What was HE
doing wrong? This wasn't sup-
posed to be happening. It wasn't
supposed to be this hard!
But what if we were told that
marriage is a huge challenge?
What if we were told that when
'1two people live together and hon-
our their truths, that there is going
to be. contraversy? What if we
were told that .everyone struggles
in relationships? What if we were
told that this was normal and com-
pletely natural?
And this analogy can be taken to
new jobs, raising teens, sickness,
death, learning new skills, loss of
any kind, etc. If deep down, we
accept that it will be challenging
and that it won't be perfect right
away, then maybe we will be able
to enjoy it sooner. We won't be so
criticalof ourselves and others
when things get difficult.
The challenge seems to be both
optimistic and realistic at the same
time – to embrace the challenging
nature of life and look forward to
it all at the same time. And maybe
even finding this balance might be
difficult. But if we know this,
when things get tough, we'll be
able to relax and focus on all the
things that are going really well.
Web site: www.kutrinabos.ca
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Love Paul & Connie •
Grandchildren
1 Denise & Tim, Dennis, Drew ' i
Great Grandchildren
Kendall, Addison, Grayden
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yo
In a 2008 study presented
at the American Associa-
tion for Cancer Research's
Seventh Annual Interna-
tional Conference on Fron-
tiers in Cancer Prevention
Research, the role of Aspi-
rin in the ability to detect
early-stage prostate cancer
was questioned.
In the study, middle-aged
men who took Aspirin were
.found to -have, significantly
lower levels of a blood pro-
tein used to spot prostate
cancer than men who did
not take Aspirin or other
nonsteroidal anti-inflam-
matory drugs (NSAID).
Aspirin use, the study
cited, lowered the level of
prostate-specific antigens
(PSAs), potentially mask-
ing the presence of prostate
cancer. As a result, physi-
cians would naturally be
less suspicious of prostate
cancer with lower PSA lev-
els (higher blood PSA levels
suggest a greater likelihood
of having prostate cancer).
The study, which w,as based
on data collected from more
than 1,200 men over the
age of 40, found that PSA
levels were 9 percent lower
in men taking Aspirin or
another NSAID than .;those
whowere not. Though the
researchers indicated more
studies are necessary to
determine the relationship
between NSAID use and
prostate cancer detection,
men should consult their
physicians before regularly
using such medications.
Save this date August 29, 2009
4 to celebrate the marriage of
Darren Doucet
and
A Tenille Cranston
4 • Wedding ceremony at the farm
• Evening reception at the
Lucknow Community Centre
• Stag & Doe Wingham Legion
June 5
Happy 40th Anniversary
May 3rd '
omas/Shantz
0,
The family of Ken & Shirley Ramsey of
Goderich invites family and friends to an
Open House
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
l pm - 4pm
Ken & Shirley's home
Best wishes only please
0.111111111m=:—_,--
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Rick and Judi Thomas
and Mark and Rita Shantz
are pleased to announce the
marriage of their children
Kristen Lee Thomas
and Bradley Merle Shantz
Their celebration of love will be on
0 May 9, 2009 in Florad le, Ontario.
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