Mormons, Jews, Gays, and Step-Children

I recently went to classmates.com and did a search of people I knew from school. I found quite a few people on there. It seems no one my age is on myspace, even though my daughter has reconnected with many of her old friends that way. Anyway, I wrote some letters to several friends, and a few days ago, I got a letter from a girl named Donna who I knew all through middle school and high school. She sent me a long email and some pictures. She had long black hair when I knew her, and she still does. However, other than that, she looks nothing the same. If I passed her on the street, I would not know her. I had the same feeling when I went to my class reunion a couple of years ago. Those people looked so old. So I come home and look in the mirror, and I can't see that I look much different. Of course, realistically I realize I probably look as old to them as they do to me. But it's strange.

I wonder if it's like those girls who have anorexia, and they look like the crypt keeper but when they look in the mirror, they see a fat person. Or maybe God just makes me see something other than what is there, because He knew if I saw the truth, I'd have a heart attack.

Tonight we went to see The Night Listener with Robin Williams. He plays a gay guy, and there are brief moments in the movie that allude to the fact that he is gay and has a boyfriend, including one hug between the two men. There was this old guy a couple of rows up from us that just let everyone in the theatre verbally know that he was not pleased with those scenes. He would yell, "No, No, No. Don't do that. Ohhh God. Noooo." I guess it was painful for him.

I know that living in the "Bible Belt," I'm suppose to get offended by homosexuality. I just figure people should be free to live their own lives without others' judgements. Maybe that's too "new-fashioned" an idea around here. Anyway, it was a good movie if you like thrillers. Just enough building suspense to keep you wondering what was going to happen next.

I recently wrote an article called "Leaving the Mormon Church" for Associated Content. I was hesitant to submit it because of the possible backlash of the readers that would be offended. Well, it's been one of the top ten most read articles for AC in July. Evidently, people like controversy. I tried to write an article that wasn't a put down, just an honest opinion about the good things that got me involved and the things I found wrong that made me leave. It has gotten over twenty-five comments, some positive, and some negative. Even the negative ones are interesting to me. My husband feels I should stick to writing about controversial subjects. However, being a person who avoids conflict at all costs, I don't have many controversial topics running around in my mind, much less any that are interesting enough to write about.

I read a funny today about the Mel Gibson fiasco. Joy Beher, the comedian from the View, suggested that if Mr. Gibson wants to get back in the good graces of the Jewish people, he should stage a public circumcision. Now that is an interesting suggestion. My children have some Jewish heritage. Their paternal grandmother's maiden name was Rosenblum. She married a man who was of German heritage. So if they are conflicted at all in their lives, that has to be the cause of it.

We have to entertain my step-daughter and son-in-law on Sunday for dinner and two videos he thinks we need to watch. I hope they aren't long movies.
That's about all that has happened around here the last few days. Sometimes less is more.