Dave Chen recently linked to the Salon article "It's hot! It's sexy! It's ... marriage!: Am I the only person who actually enjoys being hitched these days?" by Aaron Traister | Jul. 15, 2009.

It's a really good article.

Marriage (and long-term committed relationship) has been a topic of conversation recently in a couple of different arenas.

Probably my favorite line from the piece is: "Maybe we shouldn't treat the institution and its dirty little companion as some sort of precious Fabergé egg that is either shattered and worthless or pristine, untouchable and priceless."

One of the things I remember actually liking from Lauren Winner's book Real Sex was her pointing out that we have this idea that if you're not rapturously In Love with your partner All The Time then ur doin smthg wrong.

Michelle was at small group, which was an awesome bonus surprise. Apparently her last class ends this month and then she just has her externship, so she should be all gradumucated by January.
She works until 1 on Sundays so is thinking of coming to CWM \o/

Laurie, a BU STH student who apparently has been going to CAUMC Sunday mornings for some time also showed up. She recently went to a conference on sabbath and was talking about how do you do that as a pastor -- e.g., most people will only call you with crises (either of faith or medical) so are you supposed to say, "No, it's my sabbath"?

At one point we were talking about looking you and Michelle said she acts about 15, so... I said that I do act like a grown-up, so I'm extra-frustrated by looking so much younger than my age. Someone (probably Michelle) questioned this, and I said, "I work in an office and manage people. I'm totally a grown up." She said this was undercut by the fact that, "You spend 80% of your time there watching porn." Everyone was appropriately speechless. I just kind of laughed, 'cause while not technically true (and she was of course joking -- she apologized, and I insisted she didn't need to) the spirit of the statement was true.

Later, she was telling me that she and her sister had been talking about shows that should have been on cable so there could be more hot gay sexing -- including Buffy and Angel -- Angel/Spike, and Buffy/Faith. Through this I learned that Laurie is a Joss fan. She is apparently now into Doctor Who and Torchwood.

***

Because last week was topical, I partially forgot about Living the Questions, and I'd been reading about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and blogsurfing, so I opted to excerpt some blogposts which I found interesting and thought would inspire discussion.

( what I handed out )

We talked about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We talked about holidays and which ones we get off. We talked about Eid. (Laurie's from Minnesota, which apparently has a burgeoning Muslim population.) We talked about the upcoming Presidential election. I should have cut us off 30-45 minutes before I did.

***

Affirmations

Michelle to me: "You give the best hugs in the universe. Except maybe for my boyfriend -- but he's twice your size." (6'5", 285 -- to my 5'2", 140) After closing prayer, Laurie commented that I/we do "full commitment" hugs, which she appreciates.

Mike thanked me for pulling this together, said "we couldn't have done it without you," said I'm "reliable."

Laurie to me: "You're very smart. [In an almost awed tone.] But you know how to hold your tongue. Which I don't. But I hope that spending time in your presence, it'll rub off on me. And along with your wisdom, you also have an appreciation for dorky things like Joss Whedon."