East of Eden... and the Sermon

East of Eden.

Amazing. John Steinbeck is master.

It won a Nobel Prize for Literature.

The story of every man. That is the goal of good literature.

This often means no happily ever after.

But I like to picture the future for Cal--- and it is bright.

But, "Timshel".

"Thou Mayest".

It really is his decision how the rest of his life pans out.

Life lesson learned.

On the topic of Steinbeck, if you haven't read Of Mice and Men, DO IT.

One of my favorites.

Makes me cry every single time.

Cry- as in I have to put the book down and come back to it later because I can't see the words.

It's powerful.

Pastor this morning preached on Debt.

Much needed in today's society.

I sat back and thought to myself, "Not applicable. We could've skipped this one."

That is when I realized something.

While debt may not be an issue for Matthew and I, pride is a very strong issue for me.

I take great pride in our financial situation.

Why?

If our parents had not assisted with the funding of our college tuition, we'd most likely have student loans.

Possibly not, but most likely.

If both our cars had not been graduation/marriage gifts then we wouldn't have them.

Maybe we'd have different cars but most likely they would be leased.

Sure, we can take pride in the fact that we haven't allowed ourselves to fall into the debt trap since we've been married.

We've always paid out bills on time and only use credit cards to build credit.

That is an accomplishment. Plus, we already have the highest credit limits on all cards we've ever opened so we shouldn't have any problems when it comes to actually taking out a loan someday. Hopefully only for a mortgage.

But... the fact that I am so proud of that fact, that I tell others about it, even this post here...

unnecessary.

That is something I need to work on.

That is what I took out of the sermon.

Thank you, Pastor.

Something else I learned today.

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

I need to work on that. A lot.

Other than that, paper is coming along nicely.

Beach weekend anticipation growing.

The week after my parents are coming to visit.

We set up Netflix today.

May is looking good!

Oh, and if my best friend can come visit for Memorial Day weekend that would be the absolutely cherry on the sundae! Well, I don't like Cherries... but you know.