Category: The Show Must Go On

Remembering a magnificent day earlier this Fall… This beautiful building called Old Main is a block across the street from my office.  I took this picture one day in mid-October on my lunch hour.  Today, the skies are not quite as blue; those maple trees have lost their leaves; and the grass on the ground is a dull brown.  But Old Main remains unchanged, and I daresay it will stay the same for a long time to come. 

There’s something quite comforting about brick-and-mortar, like that, don’t you think?

Last Sunday evening, I was riding in the car heading westbound in town, running one last errand for the day, nay, the weekend– when we stopped at a traffic light– and I looked out the window and directly up at the telephone wires and saw the most awesome sight: a row of tiny sparrow-like blackbirds perched close together.  They were tightly packed together like a row of men’s black dress shoes on a store-shelf.

Made me also think of Leonard Cohen’s famous ballad, Like A Bird On A Wire.  Here it is!

But this morning, I stand in awe at the stark contrast in the color of the skies as I look outside my window.  Three days ago, the skies were a bright blue even as the evening sun was fast going down in the west.  This morning, however, the skies are a dense gray but with shock of snow flurries coming down in a hurry.  Each so different, and yet each so very beautiful.  Like birds on a wire!  And a show like none other– one that must go on!

John Steinbeck’s Nobel-prize winning novel, Of Mice And Men presented by the Theatre Department at Wayne State University. A brilliant production!

Late in coming, but a post for posterity on the occasion of Thanksgiving 2010.  This was indeed a year to give thanks for all the many bounties and blessings received.  Including a feast on our table.

May it be that we find reason to give thanks each day of the year– not just on this one day set aside for this action.

Pictures of our table, for your viewing pleasure:

Last weekend, I attended this absolutely stunning and moving exhibit in my church.  It was titled Step Into Compassion— an exhibit of inner-city Detroit, Tijuana, Mexico and Rwanda– areas that are in great need of help, and provide us all with opportunities to step into.

Within the exhibit, I walked through Chene Street in inner-city Detroit, an area steeped in hard-to-believe poverty with residents struggling to climb out of drugs and desolation.  Over the years, our church (including my husband, Sunder) has been involved with helping the people in this area.  Check out a slideshow here:

The next part of the exhibit was entering the border town of Tijuana, Mexico.  Many years ago, Sunder and I were tourists in Sunny San Diego, and we took a day-trip into Tijuana, and have seen for ourselves the stark contrast in the lives and living conditions of the Mexican people there.  Over the years, our church has partnered with World Vision, a Christian international relief organization in serving in small and large ways the people of Tijuana. 

Finally, the last stop was Rwanda.  The images– both audio and visual– were forceful in serving as a reminder about the horrific state of affairs in that country in the last twenty years.  And how our small church is trying to offer help to one child at a time.

I hope that you will step up to stepping into compassion– wherever you are, and in however which way you can!

The cover story of this week’s TIME Magazine is titled, “Who Needs Marriage? A Changing Institution”  Read the story  here.

The state of marriage is shifting in unexpected ways. A TIME/Pew special report shows how income, age and experience alter our chances of wedded bliss.  The article concludes with a question about the future of marriage as we know it– will it be replaced by other forms of cohabitation, will it even last as is, and so on.  The question is duly answered as follows:  “And as a successful marriage increasingly becomes the relationship equivalent of a luxury yacht — hard to get, laborious to maintain but a better vessel to be on when there are storms at sea — its status is unlikely to drop.”

Hard to get and laborious to maintain?  Yes, that is the perfect definition of a successful marriage!  And the yacht metaphor couldn’t be more perfect, really, because that’s just what it is– a reliable luxury vessel negotiating the daily storms of life.  And the fact that it is a yacht makes it somewhat reliable, but also makes it high-maintenance!  But if maintained well, it is then also comforting to know that you will most likely make it on that rough sea, even whilst the storms rage on, and the winds toss your vessel about.

Well, here’s an example of tending to your yacht, aka, marriage.  This is a copy of an e-mail message (verbatim) written by my husband to me just days ago– that to me is nothing short of a love-letter.  Even after all these years, he writes to me with the same level of affection and detail as he did when I first met him– on a matter that couldn’t be more mundane!  Considering whether or not to make a household purchase is a routine matter, of course, but the manner in which such a topic is discussed, the patience employed to present the facts to me, the egalitarian approach to sharing the details of the task at hand, the gentle request to have me do my part, the use of punctuation to express lightheartedness and humor (including the use of emoticons!), and finally, the affectionate sign-off are all sure and clear indicators of engaging in superb maintenance of that yacht! 

And so, I am here to tell you that I am indeed one of the lucky ones who can claim to have a successful marriage that is the equivalent of a luxury yacht!  In this institution called marriage, the passage of time ought to refine our tools of communication, not erode them.  And if this is the state of my yacht after seventeen years, I do have some comfort in hoping that I might not fare too badly for the future storms that come our way.  The yacht is in reasonably good condition for now, so to speak!

Oh, and what about that TV, you ask?  Well, it’s a beauty, of course!

p.s.  ummm, and yes, the best of luxury yachts and even ships do go down ocassionally, but at least not without a fight!

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from: Sunder Isaac
to: Smriti D. Isaac Date: Nov 26, 2010 at 10:11 AM
subject: 37 ” tv for bedrooms seems to be the ideal fit

hi honey:

I have researched the tv thing extensively and it appears that the best size for our bedroom combined with extended viewing would be a 37″ tv set. This is also a happy compromise between the 32 inches one that i was proposing and your desire for a 40-42 inch tv. The 40-42 inch tv is best viewed with surround systems, as the experts recommend, and the 37 inch screen is only 3 inches less than the 40 inch screen, 🙂

Checking various brands for picture clarity, features in the tv, and realiablity, it appears that the Toshiba 37 inch tv at best buy may be the best bet. Here is the link for it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+37%22+Class+/+1080p+/+60Hz+/+LCD+HDTV/9868051.p?id=1218186678361#tabbed-customerreviews&skuId=9868051

It is being sold for 499, which is 100 less than what it retails for (599). The 4 year protection plan is 89$ which we should take. So it looks like for a little over 600 bucks we could have a great tv in our bedroom!

By the way the wall width door to door is about 51 inches, and this tv’s width is 37″ and should therefore fit well there.

I have just now called and verified that this model is available, so if you could go down and pick it up, we could set it up over the weekend.

love you,

s 

There is a tide in the affairs of men…

Post script posted on June 27, 2011:  this was the inaugural post in this blog where I was simply testing out templates, design, functionalities, etc., and chose to write this famous line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar which has a special meaning to me for reasons other than its literary genius.  Also, this picture is my Mother’s Day card from 2010, a beautiful testament of my daughters’ love for me.