“Romance” in Senegal

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At a grocery store in Dakar, the Senegalese man bagging my boxes of cereal asked, “Your name?”

“Tricia,” I answered.  He stared at me.  “Uh, you can pronounce it Tree-see-a.”

“Tree-see-a!” he exclaimed.  “My name is Kuba.”

“Kuba?  Nice to meet you.”

“I enjoy you,” he said.

“Thanks.”  That was weird, I thought, but kind of nice.

“I love you,” Kuba said.

My brain short-circuited, so I fell back on the French phrase I’d been told was good for any situation.  “…Ce va?”

Kuba wouldn’t be distracted.  “Do you love me?”

“I just met you!” I said.  I grabbed my bags and walked as quickly as possible out of the store.  Continue reading →

Top 6 Heartbreak Songs

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If love is one of the best emotions a person can experience, then losing love must be one of the worst.  Thankfully, no one is alone in their bitter pity parties.  If this Valentine’s Day is a painful one for you, then once again the answer is music!  I suggest these six songs if you need to scream out your heartbreak.

1)  Not in That Way by Sam Smith
My favorite blogger Sashayed linked to this song before Sam Smith’s album was released, and I listened to it at least fifty times.  In one sitting.  As a perpetual piner, I adored the fact that someone was singing about loving someone who didn’t love them back.  It is my heartbreak jam, and I revel in feeling less alone in my rejection.

I’d never ask you cause deep down I’m certain I know what you’d say You’d say I’m sorry believe me I love you but not in that way

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Top 6 Romantic Songs

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Is romance even possible without music?  The right song can put you in the mood or else help you process and relive the romance after the fact.  As Valentine’s Day draws nearer, it is of extreme importance that your playlists are ready and romance-ified.  Here are six songs that perfectly capture what I love about love.  Click on the title of each song to listen to it!

1)  The Gambler by Fun.
This is my favorite romantic song of all time, because it’s the story of completed love.  It’s easy to believe in the first blush of attraction, but my heart really swoons at this story of a married couple with grown children looking back at their beginning and forward to their ending.  It’s absolutely beautiful.

You come home from work, and you kiss me on the eye
You curse the dogs, you say that I should never feed them what is ours
So we move out to the garden, look at everything we’ve grown
And the kids are coming home so I’ll set the table; you can make the fire

Continue reading →

Plan a Galentine’s Day Party

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Galentine’s Day is a holiday created by Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation.  She formed the girl-centric celebration on February 13th, a day for your best lady friends before spending Valentine’s Day with your boyfriend.  As someone who doesn’t have a boyfriend, I’m tweaking her holiday a little to make it a replacement for Valentine’s Day.  It can be extremely hard to sit alone, refreshing your Facebook feed to see new pictures of happy couples celebrating their love.  Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Galentine’s Day is a chance to party with your friends and remember that no matter the messages culture sends you:  you are not alone!  Continue reading →

What is the Real Problem with 50 Shades of Grey?

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The Christian online community is blowing up, and this time it’s about 50 Shades of Grey.  As usual, I have come to the same conclusion (don’t read or watch it), but for very different reasons.  I’m always this close to fitting in.  Most of the concern I see is directed at either 1) the erotica or 2) the BDSM.  With some caveats, I don’t really see these issues as all that significant.  What bothers me about the story is, instead, the abuse.

Full disclosure:  I haven’t read 50 Shades of Grey.  This makes me that absolutely annoying person who has an uneducated opinion.  I’m sorry!  I have, however, had many conversations with readers, and I have been devouring any and all information about the series, positive or negative.  If that still doesn’t count as good enough for you, I don’t blame you.  But I encourage you to keep reading, and if I’ve missed something important, please let me know! Continue reading →

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

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My brother got me this book for Christmas with the inscription:  “For love, hearts, minds, adventure, wisdom.  Perhaps the most beautiful poems I’ve read this year, now, for you.”  How could I not get excited about it?

The poems about love, work, clothes, freedom, and death are framed by the story of a prophet offering his last words of wisdom before sailing for his homeland.  The set up feels Homeric, and the wisdom is some seriously good insight.  I was won over from the first themed poem on Love, in which he says:  Continue reading →

Netflix Rec: Long Way Round and Long Way Down

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Back when I had bad hair and worse skin, my adolescent celebrity crush was the Ewan McGregor from the Star Wars prequels and especially from Moulin Rouge.  That Scottish accent!  That blindingly adorable cheeky smile!  So imagine my shrieking delight when I found Long Way Round and Long Way Down on Netflix, two multi-episode documentaries of Ewan McGregor and his friend Charley Boorman motorcycling across Asia and Africa.  Continue reading →

Remembering the 2008 Tornado

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On February 5, 2008, an EF-4 tornado blew straight through Union University.  I was on campus that night, and the experience remains the one time in my life that I legitimately feared I was about to die.  Thirteen students were trapped in the rubble, and fifty-one were taken to the hospital.  The scope of the devastation was enormous, but God, for whatever reason, kept us safe.  Every February 5th I try to take time to acknowledge what happened so that I remember both the brevity of life and the protection of God.  The words that follow (with a few grammatical corrections) are what I wrote in a blog post a couple days after the tornado hit.

Around 6:30 the tornado sirens started going off, but we didn’t pay any attention. That happens often, living in Tennessee, and I was planning on starting my homework while the roomies watched American Idol. Brittany Cox ran over to our room through the rain and sirens, and we were just sitting around chilling. Then Whitney’s phone rang, and she all of a sudden said, “We’re leaving, come on!”  Continue reading →

Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris

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When I heard Neil Patrick Harris was going to write an autobiography, I fangirled hard.  When I heard his autobiography was going to be in the form of the classic “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, I was…skeptical.  It sounded cool, but how could it possibly work for a memoir?  I’ve read it now, and once again I feel ashamed for doubting NPH’s creativity and genius.  This was one of the best autobiographies I’ve ever read!  Continue reading →

Sharing My Faith

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Growing up in conservative Christianity, I attended an annual conference where I learned to share my faith so that strangers might convert and find salvation in Jesus Christ in less than two minutes.  I’ve changed the way I share my faith, but I don’t want to ignore the fact that some good things came from this conference.

Most importantly, condensing my faith into a two-minute speech did help me conceptualize the basic framework of Christianity by highlighting the overarching story revealed in the Bible.  The weekend retreats also provided an opportunity for me to combine faith and fun as my friends and I goofed off and worshiped simultaneously.  And because God is good, I know he used our efforts to bring hope and even salvation to some people’s lives.

The details of the conference were solid.  The big picture, however, is where I now disagree.  I was taught an evangelism tactic that was based in fear and presented as a formula.  Today, I try to share my faith out of love in the midst of relationships.  Continue reading →