Easy answer: I don’t know.

Less easy answer: I went to church when I was younger. I learned about Jesus and the Bible in Sunday School. There were a few years I went to church regularly, but it wasn’t a major part of my upbringing. I can’t really pin point exactly when I stopped believing. For me there was no defining moment when I decided God didn’t exist. It was more of a gradual decline in faith starting from the time I was about 9 or 10. I had questions that the Bible couldn’t answer. Such as, “How do we know the Bible is true?” and “If God is so powerful, why doesn’t he just show up and let us know he’s here?”. When I couldn’t find the answers I sought in church, I turned to my local library and my own logical thinking. Honestly, the more information I uncovered and the more thinking I did, the further I grew from the church.

I’m not saying people who believe in God don’t think or have information. As a matter of fact, I know quite a few people who have studied their religion immensely and come away with more faith in their belief system, and that’s awesome. I have zero issue with people who believe in religion, but I do dislike when people with religion assume that those without are somehow lacking.

If you derive happiness and peace from your religion, that’s great. To me, that’s the most important part of religion. Not the bullshit about whose god is better or whose holy text is right. But you have to understand that there are people out there who don’t need religion to have a meaningful life. If you think the joy you get from God is the greatest joy there is, that’s probably true. For you. Doesn’t mean it’s true for me.

I find joy in a little swimming hole near Morgantown, WV called Blue Hole. Where the creek backs up just past a waterfall and there’s a wonderful sandy beach and water so blue it’s easy to see how it was named. I spent many afternoons lazing on the flat boulders crowning the water, and those sun drenched memories of friends and even the man I plan to spend the rest of my life with will always make me smile. There is meaning in my work and my education, which I love and take great pride in. Happiness is snuggled in bed with a good novel and my babies. Peace is a hike up Crabtree Falls in Tyro, VA. The windy, wooded path that climbs 1,380 ft in elevation along what are probably Virginia’s most beautiful waterfalls.

I know many religious people are respectful and considerate of others, but unfortunately many are not. To those who pity someone who doesn’t “know” God, or who thinks I’m facing eternal damnation because I don’t believe the same as you: I’m sorry, but I have zero fucks to give. The fact of the matter is that I would never look down on you for your choice of belief, and I simply ask for the same in return.

Ramblings

I love Frogman. Why?

Also, he has a really cute Corgi named Otis.

Ramblings

So my aunt posted on my Facebook wall that she MUST HAVE this $60 Custom Pet Portraiture, and I was all, “I could totally do that.” I’m not exaggerating, check it.

So this morning (with helpful tips from my coworker, the Tom Hatherford of our office) I made some for her.

This is the first custom pet portrait I made of her Irish Setter, Copper. See why I had to include our office TH? This is a service for distinguished pets, but apparently this wasn’t as fancy as the clown suit cat. Fine.

Now he not only has a top hat and monocle, but a pair of stylish slacks, suspenders and a bow tie.

She specifically requested a waistcoat, but I couldn’t bother to remember that so I made her one with a cloak. Still pretty stylish.

I totally think I should charge $60 a piece for these, but because I’m a nice person if you give me a picture of your pet I’ll make you a custom pet portrait for free.

ETA
Custom pet portrait for Kylie!

Custom pet portrait for Anna!

Ramblings

Peggy Ornstein is a blogger and author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. She wrote a piece for the New York Times Opinion Page titled Should the World of Toys Be Gender-Free? that I’ve been mulling over recently. In the piece she addresses the new girl-focused Lego sets that come with blocks in pastel hues and svelte looking characters to replace the classic blocky figurine. Lego advises they’ve done their anthropological research and it shows that boys and girls play differently, they’re only trying to be fair to girls by offering them more “girly” sets. Ornstein points out that preschoolers are at a very impressionable age and it’s at this time they assimilate things like gender roles. She asserts that by buying these gender specific toys there may be a “negative long-term impact on kids’ potential”.

(more…)

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I’m a sucker for sick kids, it just seems so unfair that a child should have to suffer through something that I know would crush me if I had to go through it. At the beginning of last year I came across Courtney Roth’s blog, EBing A Mommy, about her son Tripp’s battle with junctional Epidermolysis bullosa. Epidermolysis bullosa is a devastating skin disease that causes the skin to blister – inside and out – at the slightest touch or friction, and junctional EB is the worst of its kind. Tripp had just turned two when I started reading, an amazing feat as doctors didn’t suspect he’d make it past the age of 1. Courtney and Tripp’s story was heart wrenching and uplifting, they were amazing and strong in the face of the greatest adversity.

Tripp passed away on Saturday, January 14^th. I bawled when reading Courtney’s blog entry. This little boy I had never met had a special place in my heart, in thousands of hearts, he was just an amazing little guy.

S. 606/HR 3059, the Creating Hope Act, is set to help children with rare diseases. Here is the official summary:

9/23/2011–Introduced.Creating Hope Act of 2011 – Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to
revise the priority review voucher program for tropical diseases to:

1. include rare pediatric diseases;
2. allow unlimited transfers of vouchers under the program;
3. require a sponsor intending to use a voucher to notify the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) at least 90 days (currently, 365 days) before submission of the application.

Revises provisions regarding the priority review user fee, including to make it payable upon notification of the Secretary of intent to use the voucher. Authorizes the Secretary, upon request of the manufacturer or sponsor of a new drug, to designate that a new drug is:

1. for a rare pediatric disease;
2. an eligible treatment.

Requires the Secretary to deem a rare pediatric disease product application to be incomplete if it does not contain a description of the sponsor’s plan to market the product in the United States. Authorizes the Secretary to refuse to issue a priority review voucher upon the approval of a rare pediatric disease application if the Secretary finds that the sponsor lacks a good faith intention to market the product in the United States. Directs the Secretary to issue a guidance document setting forth the evidentiary support necessary to demonstrate such a good faith intention. Requires sponsors of applications under the priority review voucher program to report to the Secretary within five years after the approval of the application on the demand and distribution of the product within the United States.

Simply put, this bill will help to encourage companies to put time and money into researching rare diseases that normally don’t receive such care. It’s a pretty big deal for kids like Tripp who suffer from diseases that most of us know nothing about¹.

You can follow this link and put in your contact information to automatically look up your local representatives and send them an email asking them to support the Creating Hope Act. I was able to quickly and easily send a message to Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), Senator Mike Warner (D-VA), and Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09). I’m asking everyone I know to do the same. Speak out for those who can’t.

1. I had never even heard of EB before stumbling onto Courtney’s blog. [↩]

Ramblings