Friday, November 27, 2009

The Walking Life

THE WALKING LIFE
                This weekend my family visited Durango and stayed at Lou’s Bed and Breakfast www.LousBandb.com  right on the Animas River in Durango.  Not once did we get in our car - we walked everywhere.  Need some whipping cream for the pumpkin pie?  No problem if you live two minutes from City Market.  Need some wine?  The wine shop was three minutes away.   The drug store, recreation center,   and new library were all within walking distance.  
                We stepped out the front door of Lou and Al’s and walked along the river in the crisp, clear air for miles.  We were right in the middle of Durango, yet as we followed the river, we felt as if we were in wilderness.  We saw a bald eagle perched in a tree.  On the way home we saw a buck, doe and two young.   There were so close that we could look them in the eyes.   The next day, we hopped a trolley (free) and rode downtown where we spent hours walking and window shopping along the interesting and cute Main Street.  That evening hundreds of people met at one end of Main Street and walked en masse down the middle of Main singing Christmas carols to the far end where the city lit up a giant evergreen.   
                The walking life is hard to find in the USA and I thoroughly enjoyed being outdoors burning calories, getting fit and running into all kinds of people and their pets on the trails that weave through Durango.    

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

LOVE OR MONEY?


by QUINN
November 24, 2009
LOVE OR MONEY?
The singer, Ricky Martin asks. “Are you in it for love? Are you in it for money?” Unlike a hundred years ago when the average life-span of a woman was 45 years, whether she was in a relationship for love or money, chances were that she was in it for maybe 15 to 25 years tops before being widowed or dying herself. Now that life expectancy is much, much longer, once married, you are in it for the long haul. So unless you plan to do serial marriages and endure the pain of separating and divorce, choose a partner that can go the distance.
Recently, Warren Buffet, the billionaire spoke to the student body at his alma mater, Columbia University. When asked the secrets to his phenomenal success, he said that marrying the right partner was key. Think about it – make a good match and your life is enriched. Make a bad match and your energy and joy is sucked out of you for years on end.
So which should you choose – love or money? Ricky Martin isn’t asking the right question. When marrying, choose a life partner, a person who can grow with you and meet the challenges that life will bring. As my son-in-law said in his marriage vows, “I am not naïve enough to think that life will always be easy for us just because we love each other, but I do know that there is no other person I want holding my hand for each of life’s new challenges.”
So sons and daughters everywhere, don’t rush into marriage at the first opportunity. Establish a mindset of marrying for life and choose accordingly. It is the most important commitment of your life.