The one flaw in women

By unknown author

By the time the Lord made woman,

He was into his sixth day of working overtime.

An angel appeared and said,

"Why are you spending so much time on this one?"

And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec sheet on her?

She has to be completely washable, but not plastic,

have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable

and able to run on diet coke and leftovers,

have a lap that can hold four children at one time,

have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart

-and she will do everything with only two hands."

The angel was astounded at the requirements.

"Only two hands!? No way!

And that's just on the standard model?

That's too much work for one day.

Wait until tomorrow to finish."

"But I won't," the Lord protested.

"I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart.

She already heals herself when she is sick

AND can work 18 hour days."

The angel moved closer and touched the woman.

"But you have made her so soft, Lord."

"She is soft," the Lord agreed,

"but I have also made her tough.

You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish."

"Will she be able to think?", asked the angel.

The Lord replied,

"Not only will she be able to think,

she will be able to reason and negotiate."

The angel then noticed something,

and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek.

"Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model.

I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one."

"That's not a leak,"

the Lord corrected, "That’s a tear!"

"What's the tear for?" the angel asked.

The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy,

her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love,

her loneliness, her grief and her pride."

The angel was impressed.

"You are a genius, Lord.

You thought of everything!

Woman is truly amazing."

And she is!

Women have strengths that amaze men.

They bear hardships and they carry burdens,

but they hold happiness, love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream.

They sing when they want to cry.

They cry when they are happy

and laugh when they are nervous.

They fight for what they believe in,

they stand up to injustice.

They don't take "no" for an answer

when they believe there is a better solution.

They go without so their family can have.

They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.

They love unconditionally.

They cry when their children excel

and cheer when their friends get awards.

They are happy when they hear about

a birth or a wedding.

Their hearts break when a friend dies.

They grieve at the loss of a family member,

yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.

They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you

to show how much they care about you.

The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.

They bring joy, hope and love.

They have compassion and ideals.

They give moral support to their family and friends.

Women have vital things to say and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,  

IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH 

From the outside in

"I've seen Dickon!" said Mary. "I've seen Dickon!"

"I knew he'd come," said Martha exultantly. "How does tha' like him?"

"I think... I think he's beautiful!" said Mary in a determined voice.

Martha looked rather taken aback, but she looked pleased, too.

"Well," she said, "he's th' best lad as ever born, but us never thought he was handsome. His nose turns up too much."

"I like it turned up." said Mary.

"And he's eyes is so round," said Martha, a trifle doubtful. "Though they are a nice color."

"I like them round," said Mary. "And they are exactly the color of the sky over the moor."

Martha beamed with satisfaction. "Mother says he made 'em that color with always lookin' up at th' birds an' th' clouds. But he has got a big mouth, hasn't he, now?"

"I love his big mouth,” said Mary obstinately. "I wish mine were just like it."

Martha chuckled delighted. "It'd look rare an' funny in thy bit of a face," she said. "But I knowed it would be that way when tha' saw him...

This is my favorite dialog in one of my favorite books, "The Secret Garden", and this is what made me wrinkle this morning...

You might think I'm about to write about inner beauty; about blind love and how "beauty is not in the face, beauty is a light in the heart". How beauty only exists in perception, and everything else you already know because our heads have been so saturated with it. And I'm not saying its all nonsense; in fact, I agree 100% with inner beauty. I mean, yeah I'm kind of sick of it, but I'm still a fan of it, so no... I'm not about to 'blah, blah, blah' about inner beauty... instead, I'm just gonna readjust the lens a bit.

The reason why I love this dialog so much is NOT because Mary is falling so hopelessly in love with Dickon that she's not noticing the turned up nose, the round eyes, and that big mouth all together... truth is it's because Mary is falling so hopelessly in love with Dickon that she's noticing the turned up nose... and she likes it turned up. She notices the round eyes, and not only does she like them that way, but she could see the color they were made of. She notices his big mouth, she loves it that way, and she wants hers to be just like it.

And here's a careful confession of mine:

When I was in college I had a slight crush on this perfect stranger I once helped on the ATM machine. He was blind. I would've never noticed if he hadn’t had trouble with the machine.

He was struggling with the headphones. I remember they were all tangled up. He had a big backpack in one shoulder, carrying some books and the white cane in one hand, and trying to get the tangled headphones out of the backpack with the other.

Since I was behind him in the line... I took a few steps forward, touched his hand, and said "Here, let me help." He raised his head and somehow looked at me. Chuckling, he said, "Thanks." I untangled the headphones, plugged them for him, and got back in the line.

We never spoke again after that day.

He’s eyes never met mine, but I was so sure he saw me.

And after that, we ran into each other very often, but obviously he couldn't see me, he wasn't going to remember me, and so.. he would go he’s way and I kept going my way.

I wondered what it would be like to fall in love with a blind man.

Not having to comb my hair(not that I do), wear make up all the time or worry so much about my outfit... but it was so much more than that.

My crush was based on my desire to be seen not with the eyes, but with the heart. And then it hit me like a wave upon the sand... I realized I was trying to hide myself.

Whether I was pretty or ugly, I was crushing on him because he would never be able to see me... I didn't want him to see me.

But why do we worry so much about having someone see only the "inner us" when there is also an "outer us"?

You know you're in love when it took EVERYTHING that person is in order for you to say,

"I love you", and "inner you" is not EVERYTHING you're made of.

We have to love and care about "outer us" just as much as we love and care about "inner us" because we are made out of both. If God gave you a face, wear it! Don't hide it behind your heart. So what if your heart is more beautiful that your face? The person that was made to love you will love your turned up nose, so show it of. Be your own kind of beautiful because whether we like it or not, there comes the time when beauty is not only seen with the heart; when beauty is not only skin deep; when beauty is not just a guilty privilege. Beauty is what you make it... you decide what's beautiful.

Wake up!

Waking up in the morning... Isn't it a beautiful experience? Isn't it just a breath of fresh air to open your eyes and jump out of bed spinning and swaying toward the window to the song the little birdies sing while the drops of golden sun kiss your cheeks ever so warmly? Isn't it??? ...liar! No it's not. It's horrible. And even worse if you were having a nice dream and it's rudely interrupted by the annoying beeping sound of the indestructible alarm. It's anything but a breath of fresh air if you know what I mean. You raise your eyebrows in a failed attempt to open your heavy eyelids, you shove yourself out of bed, and you grumble and mumble all the way to the bathroom dragging your feet and blaming yourself for not closing the curtains the night before.

What normal human being does not encounter this type of trouble every single morning?  I haven't met not one. 

And why is it so hard to wake up in the morning? It's just obviously simple: Because we are being shaken out of our comforts... and this is what made me wrinkle this morning

Ernest Hemingway said:

"I love sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?"

...and I think this is the second reason why waking up is hard. 

When you're asleep, everything is under control, relaxed, and consciousness is practically suspended, and once you wake up, suddenly you're not in control, surely you're not relaxed, and you realize life does not revolve around only you and what you want. Time does not wait for you, chores won't do themselves, and money will not start growing on a tree in your back yard... seems to me an alarm clock is not the only thing that shakes us out of our comforts. 

When we're awake, we have to make everything happen and sometimes things don't turn out the way we want them to, ergo our daily troubles, opposition, mistakes, disappointments, etc. 

I believe every second of our lives are already planned out; everything we do and everything we don't, everything we say and everything we keep. Our lives are not a mere improvisation. Every mistake we make, every obstacle we face, every disappointment we suffer is a chance for us to learn how to be the person we were born to be and we were born to be something way more awesome than what that mirror reflects today, but we have to reach for it. Laziness will only bring you lower. Taking the easy way out is not the right way out. Effort is uncomfortable, but laziness is barren.

"The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied." Prov. 13:4  

When we spend time and strive to obtain something, the same effort pays off by increasing its worth. It's because of the effort and sacrifice that we dedicate to that ‘something’ what gives it its value.

Trouble and opposition are both inevitable in life; it's what life is made of. We will never be able to get to the top of the mountain without first having to climb it. The challenges we face through the course of life are what make a stronger character and a fearless heart prepared to overcome whatever comes next. The reason why trouble is significant in our lives is because it is a step up and a step closer to success. Where there is no sickness, there is no healing; where there is no poverty, there is no provision, and where there is no effort, there is no victory.

Coffee and Milk

Mmm... Coffee and Milk. 

Like hip and hop, peanut butter and jelly, socks and shoes... always better together. 

The milk to my coffee..

I have a genuine love for milk. I do. Milk is awesome and even better with Coffee.

Some say milk is bad for you, while others say it's the ultimate health drink. 

Either way, I'm not here to tell if it's good or not, but the real reason I decided to write about Coffee and Milk is because of what made me wrinkle this morning...

I woke up this morning(not as early as I wanted to) and it was doing a fine day outside, just beautiful. 

By the way, today is El Grito de Lares so I'll be headed down town later on 

to celebrate like a proud "jibarita".

So I said to myself, "How about a nice cup of hot Coffee?"... -->oh, come on, you know you talk to yourself once in a while too

...and right at the moment when Milk was about to meet Coffee, I remember: Milk tasted funny yesterday.

So I turn the carton to check the expiration date 'cause, as much as I love Milk, I can be rather finicky about it. The carton said "Sept. 25", today is 23, but no matter what the carton says, for me Milk starts to taste funny like a week before its expiration date... that never fails. Mom gets all mad at me because I want to throw away a carton half full, but she doesn’t because it still has like four days ahead... even if it tastes like liquid curd gone wrong.

Anywho, I decide not to introduce Milk to Coffee today because it would totally ruin Coffee's awesome flavor. Yes, I drank Coffee alone today. I know it's a terrible thing to do, but I had to and might I say... it wasn't bad at all. In fact, I was able to taste Coffee's own unique flavor alone without the help of Milk. In other words, I got to know Coffee in a whole new way.

Now doesn’t this event I thought more or less unfortunate, seem quite familiar and in a way somewhat revealing? In essence it truly does, come to think of it...

One might think that refusing to something you might already be accustomed to or just something you really like, even when you know it’s bad for you, could be unsatisfying. Every day we see people that resist giving up things that they know are bad for them. 

Sometimes we live day by day strapped down to that something that might be "totally ruining Coffee's awesome flavor"...and yes, in this metaphor we are Coffee. 

There is a famous quote running around out there that says: "You never know what you have until you lose it."

Yeah, well guess what? I happen to have found a better one... 

"You never know what you've been missing until it arrives."

So if you're holding on to something that's coating your flavor or even ruining it, remember what happened to Coffee and Milk once upon a sunny day in Lares... and be blessed.