ROTFLOL, meangirl! So according to you, everyone should check the charts and make their life decisions based on what's "average", eh? Apparently you are one who breaks out in a rash at the very mention of logic!
Yes, I too was a virgin.
Logic and attention span, meangirl, logic and attention span. On your post #288, my first 3 words you quote are "Two years passed." Perhaps you are "mathematically challenged" though? LOL!!! It appears that you forget to put your brain in gear before you place your mouth in motion!
And thanks for this marvelous opportunity to follow the good advice at Zedekiah 3:8 again! (See my last post). These opportunities always make my day!
A few quick observations: Meangirl's post #289: "Oh and please enlighten me. What exactly haven't I acheived?" Happiness, peace, usefulness, and fulfillment would start the list. You mention a husband, but not children, and I doubt you have any. If you do, please give them my deepest sympathy. Their lives must be miserable.
Post #291: The usual wont of busybodies is to ridicule the normal and healthy emotions of the youth by plastering demeaning names on them like "crush", "puppy love", etc., instead of helping them learn how to understand and control these new feelings. This deliberate denigration of those normal things has lead to millions of kids leaving home before they were ready, suicide, and many other tragedies. This is why I ask you to give your kids (if you have any) my deepest sympathies. I know what they are going through.
What emotional twits like you need to have hammered through your thick skulls is that childhood does not extend right through to the stroke of midnight on their 18 th birthday, at which point they are miraculously transformed into adults. There is a considerable amount of time when they are NOT children, but they a "young adults" aka: youths. To continue to treat them as children is, in their eyes, slander. I agree with them. Those parents who are stupid enough to continue treating them as children usually lose them, sometimes permanently.
Post # 296: "I have read many, many experiences of those on this forum who were teenagers in the 60's and are very bitter about making a decision to get baptized as a child." --- I have too. I have also known many who were baptized young and never regretted it. I was baptized at 15, and am still glad I did, disfellowshipped or not. Your error in logic is in thinking that if anyone makes a mistake, then all people should be prohibited from trying. One size does NOT fit all.
Post #297: ROTFLOL!!!! And am I supposed to care what these fake statistics show? I have news for you little girl: according to statistics, my ENTIRE LIFE was impossible! And that's one of the great sources of joy for me - that of tackling something that people like you say is "impossible" and then doing it with ease. The look on their faces is priceless!
Post #300: My, my! You really have your panties in a wad about my words "One of my primary goals when I married this little freckle-faced girl was to do all I knew how to be sure that she could find joy and happiness in her role of wife and mother", don't you? According to you I decided for her what she was supposed to be, that you were promiscuous (where did THAT come from???), and a whole raft of other things that were nothing more than figments of your overactive imagination. I would imagine that next you will accuse me of raping Cleopatra and Joan of Arc (actually, we had a threesome, and it was all consensual. Hehehehe!), all while stealing the green cheese off the moon. Right?
And where did you get the nutty idea that I had to decide for her what she wanted to be, particularly when she told me straight out on our first date that "You know, I'm afraid my two older sisters will have the whole world populated before I have a chance!" I didn't have to guess or decide anything. She already knew what she wanted to do with her life.
And don't give me the hogwash that someone of that age doesn't know their own mind. That little girl at 13 had more common sense and integrity in her little toe than you will have at any age.
The late, great Chicago columnist Mike Royko coined a phrase that perfectly describes everything you've posted on here. He called it "ranting on empty". Amen!
But let's get back to important things.
N.drew - ROTFLOL!!! "Meangirl are you the Governing Body's MOTHER?" I laughed until the tears were rolling down my cheeks! Gotta remember that one!
Thanks about your observation on my words "the monthly menses and their purpose". What you saw in that is accurate as far as it goes. There was a deeper reason for it though, that I didn't expound on because it is rather private. Let's put it this way: Back in the 50's and before, procreation and bodily functions like that simply weren't spoken of, with the result that many people grew up knowing almost nothing about how their body worked.
I knew one girl who tragically lost her father. The very same day, only a few hours after she got the awful news, her first period started. She was horrified and, not knowing anything at all about what was happening, she figured she would be the next to die. I found that tragic and can only imagine the mental anguish she went through. I wanted to make sure that my daughters would never experience anything like that.
So in my words above, one could substitute "and what is natural" for "and their purpose"and the correct meaning would still be there. I'm glad I didn't though, because then "meangirl" wouldn't have been able to enjoy ranting on empty! (I always aim to please. LOL!)
AGuest - Your analysis of the conditions at that time is spot on. The age one could be married then in Oregon was indeed 15, and yes, parental consent was needed, which was not difficult, but that is no reflection on our parents.
I thought I'd share something with you that is both funny and touching. "Meangirl" made such a self-righteous issue about not accepting the affections of younger men ---
My grandfather on my mother's side was six years younger than my grandmother. They got acquainted because she was his Sunday school teacher. He fell in love and vowed to himself that this was the girl he was going to marry. She knew nothing of this at first, and years passed. His decency and patience drew her respect first, and eventually her love.
They were married well over 50 years. I well remember one time when she was about 78 (she looked it too, bless her heart) that she walked into the kitchen one evening just before going to bed. She always wore her hair in a bun, but would brush it out every night, and that's what she was doing at the moment. When down, it extended well past her waist.
My grandfather was silent as he watched her with a soft light in his eyes. After a minute or two he turned to me and said quietly, "Tom, look. Isn't she beautiful?"
Her head dropped and she blushed just as pretty as any 15 year-old. "Oh, Charles. . . . . ." Her voice trailed off.
She may have been 78 years-old and a great grandmother, but in his eyes she was still the beautiful young girl he had married all those years before.
Still thinking - post #1717: I completely agree with you on all points. However, I think that there is a nuance here that is being missed by all, which is my fault for not enlarging the conversation in that direction. I made a passing reference to it, but considering some of the comments made, it is obviously inadequate. I'm referring to my words,"She blossomed far beyond anything that I expected, and I was enthralled with the results."
The "results" referred to are extensive and pervasive, and are not limited to a narrow field like family duties. It has been my experience that it matters little who one is or what position in life one finds himself. For one to reach his or her full potential, the first and most critical task is simply to become comfortable with oneself. Once that is accomplished, then excellent progress can be made into almost any field.
As it was, my little freckle-faced gal (I tease her that her freckles are the thousand island dressing on my hot tomato) (Grin) wanted to be a wife and mother. This inner sense of self imparts strength, and realizing that it is honored and respected by those around her made her excel in her chosen role, just as she would have excelled in other roles, if she would have chosen them. This success gave her confidence and joy, and she came out of her youthful shell and blossomed into a well rounded and delightful woman that everyone loves and respects.
But it didn't stop there. This quality was passed on to our daughters, and now grandkids. For instance, our two oldest girls got part time jobs while in high school, pooled their money, and bought themselves a car. It needed an overhaul, so they asked me to guide them through it, which I did. They overhauled it all right, right down to the cam bearings! Those two cute girls covered in grease were a sight to see! They drove it for a while until they'd finished their second year of high school French, then sold it to finance a trip to Montreal where they hoped to polish their skill in the language. This they did for a period of one year, when they were approximately 16 and 17. At the end of the year they gave an account of their experiences at the Quebec district assembly, in French.
Our oldest daughter is married with two kids, and is an RN in the pediatric ward of a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. (Actually, she's one step above an RN, but I forget what it's called.) Her daughter has two kids and is in business for herself.
Our second daughter is married with two kids, and they travel all over the place acting as interpreters at French speaking assemblies and other functions. All four of them are fluent in French, and one of their daughters has already spent some time in Africa and is finishing up her second year of Swahili.
Another daughter loves the theater and dancing. She too is married with two kids, and she has written and produced plays and is working on another one now. She was nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs just before she directed her first one and asked what the sign of a successful play was. She was told that she could consider it a success if she sold 80% of the seats. She averaged 96%. Every showing after the first night was sold out. Her lead actor went on to play on Broadway in New York. Her daughter dances with the Eugene ballet company and has toured the Pacific Northwest with them. In her "spare" time she gets $25.00 an hour to teach ballet - and she's only 17 years old!
I've already introduced you to Jeanne, who is married and has 4 kids. Her love is nature and the wilderness, although she loves theater too, and has her finger in a myriad other things. That includes the county fair, in which the whole family is involved. Last year when Sol was 9, he constructed about 20 scarecrows for people's gardens and sold them for prices ranging from $20.00 to $75.00. Meanwhile, his 6 year-old brother Forrest was standing in the thick of things with a contribution jar in front of him, playing his violin. These kids did these things on their own, and only received help when they asked for it.
There's more, but I think that's enough to illustrate my point. My prime role in all of this was to forge the elbow room for them to try, and help them to realize that failures were failures in name only, for you learn more from them than anything else. About 90% of my job then, consisted in backing off the cynics and nay-sayers so that my family wouldn't be afraid to try.
This, then, is what I was referring to when speaking of the "results". By this time I'm finding myself standing in the midst of all this, swinging my head back and forth, scratching my noggin, and wondering, "Good lord, Tom! Whot did yu git started here!" LOL!!!
Tom
