The Perfect Gift Every Time

My best friend and I have a sure thing going in the gift-giving department. We've known each other for twenty years and never once has it failed to deliver to us the best gift for any occasion from the other person. And in the spirit of the holidays, I'm going to share it with you.

Every year, every birthday, every Christmas, any gift-giving occasion, my best friend has given me you the best gift of all, and I've given her the best one as well. Even when I was unemployed or she was living on student loans, the best present every time comes from the other. Here's how.

First, you enjoy opening the gifts that others have generously outfitted you with. Second, you do a quick calculation of the cash and checks that others have sent you in lieu of a gift-wrapped box, which they think in impersonal but we all know is the bomb. Third, say or write a quick thank you. (Good manners mean as much as any gift.) Four, take the money you received and add or subtract what ever amount your bank account can afford, then buy the one thing you really wanted but didn't get. (Works for every budget.) Fifth, final, and most fun, call your best friend and tell them all about the fabulous gift they gave you that no one else thought to and you were dying to have. Praise them for their exquisite taste and for knowing you so well that they get you the perfect gift every time. Your best friend repeats the sequence. Soon you'll get your own phone call telling you what an amazing gift you got them that only you could think of.

Hence, you have given the best gift every time with out any of the stress over what to buy, budget, shipping, etc. My best friend has given me books and entire seasons of television shows, concert tickets, even a car payment. And every time I walk into her place she points out the fabulous new anime item or rich fabric I've given her that she's creating an amazing piece with.

So if you're interested in being the best gift giver ever, check out Caiti and Christy's Guaranteed Best-Gift-Ever system. Give the best, get the best, from the best. Twenty years of satisfaction and many more to come.

I wonder what fabulous gift I'll get her this Christmas? I'll wait for the call!

Terms of Endearment

We need a new colloquialism.

I do not feel my "Biological Clock" ticking. What I feel as a 31 year-old single woman who hasn't dated in . . . Never mind. I don't want a baby right now. I do want the opportunity to have a healthy baby in the, hopefully, near future. But every year that goes by, my eggs get a little less healthy, a little less reliable, and a little less prolific. I know women have healthy babies into their 40's and now 50's, but statistically, my chances of conception and a healthy baby are better the younger I am.

What we need is a term that describes a woman's biological concern for the option of having a baby if she isn't yet in a relationship or financial situation to allow her to responsibly fulfill the desire to, some day, have a child. Ideally, I'd be married to my best friend who would provide that essential father and co-parent role that study after study shows is so important. I have to admit, though, that were I financially and professionally secure, I might make a go of it on my own.

I've always wanted to adopt, and that's certainly one thing I plan to pursue when I'm ready, though adoptions to single women who aren't celebrities are more rare than you might think. Again, my desire to some day have a child, biological or adopted, is dependant on a man and/or money. Money isn't something you get a Master's in Public Health for and men can reproduce with healthy sperm long past the point of no return that women face.

So let's come up with a new way of conveying the desire for the option of having a healthy baby that doesn't imply it must happen immediately. Me and my fellow 30-something women who, like me, are having little success with men and money, would appreciate not being associated with an explosive device in our ovaries.

Half the Sky

This December first marks World AIDS Day. It's a day I hope we'll all be happy not to mark on the calendar in years to come. Especially alarming this year is the recent World Health Organization's report Women and Health, which cites HIV and AIDS as the number one cause of death and disease in women worldwide, ages 15 to 44. To be sure, many cases result from forced sexual acts and prostitution, drug use, and lack of education and access to health care in the developing world. But the developed world has its share of women infected with HIV who can't claim a lack of awareness or education on how to prevent the spread of this Grimm Reaper. So it's no wonder that the study also found that women, no matter where they live, provide most of the health care while receiving little in return; that while women live longer, those years are not often healthy; that more than ever, a woman's socio-economic status, no matter if she's in the developed or developing world, is what predicts her health and quality of life outcomes.
There's a wonderful book out, as you can see by my selection for book of the week, called Half the Sky, written by Nobel prize winners Nicholas Krustaf and Sheryl Wudunn. Please take the time to get this book from your local library or bookseller and read through it. An amazing journey of heartache and of hope, it shows how the education of women can lead to empowerment in cultures that see women as little more than necessary for breeding more men. Simply learning to read and write gives women better health throughout their lives. And the more empowered women are, the better their communities thrive, whether in Africa or the United States.
This Tuesday, wear a little red, and acknowledge the millions of women who die every year from HIV/AIDS, our number one killer. Learn more about prevention, progress on a vaccine, and cultural differences that threaten different groups of women in this deadly disease. Empower yourself and someone you love. This December first, hold up more than your half of the sky.
For more information on the WHO's report visit: http//:whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563857_eng.pdf

I Can't Believe I Have a Blog

Here's the thing; I'm a writer by nature. I write fiction, non-fiction, ideas, story lines, a master's thesis, and always my opinion. I have avoided blogging like the plague, however. Perhaps it's my intense dislike of joining the "lemmings" as they follow each other blindly over the cliff. (I don't even Twitter. Or is it Tweet?) Certainly a part of me has always resisted sharing my life's intimate details with people I don't know, especially those surfing the Internet for someone else's life to follow.

But here's the other thing. Ever since I began writing term papers, my professors have told me that should life present itself with the opportunity to be the next Anna Quinlan, writing editorials for Newsweek and pieces for prestigious papers, I should snag it. No matter how long they had been assigning papers on the same subject, year after year, when my paper surfaced to the top of the stack, they had something to look forward to again. I never took the same approach, I always saw something new or differently, I was charming and coy, and I could make them think and laugh. Not bad considering some of the happier topics were alcohol addiction and caregiver burden for elderly dementia patients.

Anna Quinlan has since retired from Newsweek's editorial staff and I have no presumptions of sliding into her spot, covet it though I may. Instead, I introduce this blog and hope to entertain and inform the way we think and see things in our worlds. Even if the only person who gets a different take is myself, I'll consider it a success.

Welcome. Life is often editorialized. Now it's my turn. (Sorry for the pun Anna.)