I never really planned on going on a mission. I’d say things like, “If I ever go on a mission, it would be cool to go to Russia,” and things like that, but it really wasn’t a goal in my life. I just didn’t see how it would be financially possible, and I didn’t spend any time figuring out how to get over or around that obstacle. And I was fine with that.

I was in college and things were going well. My spiritual life, though it could always be better, was in good shape. So I was where I should have been, doing what I should have been doing.

And then when I was 22, the Lord hit me over the head with a 2 by 4.

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Amid the interesting stats shared by the commentators on Elisabeth’s willworkforawife.org post, Elisabeth wrote in comment #16:

I sort of go back and forth between being appalled at such abbreviated meeting to dating to engaged to married stories amongst Mormons, and awed that so many great marriages can be built on knowing each other for such a short amount of time.

What real relationship is there between successful marriage and pre-marriage familiarity? Which aspects of your potential spouse are essential to know before you decide to marry, and which are not?

I few years ago I became good friends with a co-worker. He was a fairly devout Muslim from Yemen, where he had been born, raised, and married. One day we went to lunch along with another co-worker.

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Mike Parker sent me an e-mail yesterday after the autopsy of Terri Schiavo came out. His e-mail was quite courteous and nice but he was gloating. That’s OK — if the autopsy had shown results more favorable to my position on Terri I probably would have gloated also.

Bottom line for me: The autopsy results don’t change the primary reasons I was in favor of allowing Terri to live. Read more if you want to know why.
If you’re sick of this whole issue, please click someplace else.

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Thank you, Millennial Star, for your gracious introduction and for letting me write with you.

Riding a bicycle in Washington D.C. nudges me into a sidestream of metropolitan life that I would miss underground or in a car. I got to mark the opening of kayaking season on the Potomac as I rode across the Key Bridge every morning in late April. I saw—and sometimes tasted—the reawakening insect life swarming above the warm grass along the Mt. Vernon trail. And just within the past two weeks, I’ve noticed a man who sets up an easel at the base of the Memorial Bridge and dabs away at an increasingly lovely painting of the Washington Memorial.

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The subject of medicating “bad” behavior is sometimes controversial. I’ve met many people in the church who believe that ADD is just an excuse for bad behavior, and that medications prescribed to treat ADD are dangerous, addictive, or damaging, and a poor substitute for good old discipline. I used to think along these lines.

ADD discussions are tied to the ongoing discussion of nature verses nurture, free will, and the dualism of body and spirit.

Let me draw your attention to a remarkable book: Healing ADD by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.

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