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We Are More Than a Single Story
Michelle: Recently for work, we watched a TED talk titled, “The Danger of a Single Story”. The presenter, a Nigerian author, shared that she left Nigeria as a 19-year-old, to attend a university in the United States. Her roommate knew, before they met, her age and where she was from. When they met for the first time, her surprised roommate asked her where she learned to speak English so well. She responded, “Well, English is the official language of Nigeria.” Her roommate also asked her if she had any recordings of the tribal music that they listen to. The author shared that she tremendously disappointed her roommate when she produced a tape of Mariah Carey. Her roommate had…
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My Tip Troll
Chris: Let me begin by saying, I know that my wife is smart, creative and talented. When I tell you the rest of the story, rest assured, it is not because I do not know this. Michelle came to me one afternoon with this phrase, “Hey Babe, I need your advice.” My Tip Troll was delighted. She started to tell me what was going on and I stopped listening about a third of the way in because, quite frankly, my Tip Troll knew exactly what advice to offer. When she finally finished, I was able to share my wisdom. But, to my Troll’s dismay, Michelle shook her head and walked out of the room. Leaving my Troll’s…
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Table Talk
Michelle: For months, I had been telling Chris that the wobbly table needed to be fixed. Each evening, I would come home to find it still wobbled. How could this be? My husband is a carpenter. In my mind, I began to create a story. Chris wants to see how many times I’m going to bring it up. He is just trying to make me mad. Maybe, he doesn’t want to fix the table. I could go on and on with the stories I had…because remember, the table was wobbly for MONTHS. Finally, I made a decision. I was not going to bring the table up again, I just stopped commenting on the table. One morning, we sat down for…
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Cultivating Happiness
morning sunrise with highway foreground
