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Welcomes Mark
Introduction
My name is Mark, I've lived on this planet since 1932 and have enjoyed, almost every day. I certainly am grateful for every day, even those I didn't necessarily 'enjoy'.
I live in a little town in Nebraska. My wife has passed, the children are grown and scattered across the United States. I have my trusted dog Shep to keep me company.
What I would like to share about myself and family
My wife, Sharon, passed away five years ago. She and I raised five children, all boys. They were a handful when they were young, only 18 months apart from one another. I am proud to say that I was an active father even when, at the time, it was more common for the men-folk to leave the parenting to the mother.
My sons grew up with a great respect for women, I believe, because they saw us working together as a team. I actually get thank you cards from time to time from my daughters-in-law telling me how wonderful my sons are as husbands and as fathers.
My Favorite Quote
My all time favorite quotes all came from my father. He used to read the Farmers Almanac and I think his Ben Franklin common sense came from this.
I had a hard time keeping my opinion to myself and my fathers' response was:
"God gave you one mouth and two ears for a reason"
He said this to me once when I was feeling sorry for myself:
"You can play hookey from school, but you can't play hookey from life"
He said this when I once said in anger and frustration, "Why does 'this' always happen to me?"
"You can't expect to harvest grapes from an apple tree. If you want grapes, you gotta plant grapes"
I thought he was a crazy man most of my life. It wasn't until I became a father that I understood.
Words of Wisdom
The words of wisdom that I would like to share are very simple. If you think life 'owes' you, then you will never get out of life what you were meant to have. Your attitude will get in the way of your receiving what will naturally come your way. If you constantly focus on what you don't have, you will never appreciate what you do have.
My Favorite Recipe
My favorite recipe is a recipe for a happy marriage.
- Marry a friend
- Respect your spouse as dearly as you would a friend
- Share both your weaknesses and your strengths with your spouse
- Learn how to compromise
- Don't ask, "Where's my socks?" You should be able to find them yourself
- Forget the old fashion thinking of 'women's work and men's work. Each should do the chores
- Look your spouse in the eye, every day, and tell your spouse that you are in love
- Always call if you're running late
- Allow each person to grow, but share and support that growth
- The household money is just that, it's not his, not hers.
- Be tender with one another
- Never let anyone outside of your home to interfer
- Never allow anyone to ever disrespect your spouse - nip it in the bud
- Dance together - even if it's just in the kitchen
- Hold hands
- Learn to disagree, while respecting the right of the other to have individual opinions
- Develop short term and long term memory loss - don't carry around a chalk board for amunition in an argument
- Make time to date
- If you are upset with your spouse, tell your spouse, not the rest of the world
- And finally, be thankful every day that you were fortunate enough to marry a person that was willing to love you
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