Living Open Handed

When Nate proposed, he gave me a gorgeous 3/4 carat round cut diamond. I have always received compliments for its look, and have been quick to respond, "Thanks, he did a great job." He picked it out himself, and had it inscribed with our shared initials NJV. The first time I took it for cleaning, they let me verify the inclusions with the jeweler's loop to ensure they matched the map on the certification sheet. Inclusions are the fancy jewelry term for flaws . Small black dots, lines and squiggles hang out in my diamond. Most aren't visible to the naked eye, but under certain light and at certain angles, I can see one in my ring. At first, it really bothered me. I felt like my diamond wasn't good enough, that Nate had been swindled by our jeweler (this happened to coincide with a string of trips to the jewelry store that left me bitter... maybe a post for another time), and hated that my perfect diamond wasn't perfect. Now after 7 years of being married, th...

So this week, Nate and I have been living in Boston for 1 year. It is unreal to me how much has happened since then. While I love living here, it is easily one of the hardest and most stressful things I have ever done to move here. Since I am reflective by nature (side effect of being an introverted extrovert and insecure), here are some things I have learned in this crazy awesome stressful year: 1. No matter how good you think you are at directions, a street map of Boston will always look like a plate of spaghetti. Seriously, just take the T. 2. Having a teaching license in three different states (2 now) is over rated. And, and! The license application process always gets harder, and always makes you feel like a show pony jumping through hoops. 3. It is no good trying to fake it when you aren't happy. Honesty is always better- better emotionally, better physically, better spiritually. God and your husband always know when you are lying. 4. Piggy backing off that, binge wat...