A bit abnormal event in Normal

Wedding in Taco Bell? That too in a city named 'Normal'? Sounded interesting ;-)
---

NORMAL, Ill. – Wedding bells meant Taco Bell for Paul and Caragh Brooks.
Customers inside the fast-food restaurant continued to order tacos and burritos as the couple sat Friday in an orange booth at Taco Bell and exchanged vows.
"It's appropriate," groom Paul Brooks said. "It's an offbeat relationship."
Employees displayed hot sauce packets labeled with the words "Will you marry me?" They decorated the restaurant with streamers and balloons.
The bride wore a $15 hot pink dress and the entire wedding cost about $200. Several dozen guests looked on as the couple's friend, Ryan Green of Normal, administered the vows while wearing a T-shirt. He was ordained online.
"This is the way to go — there's no stress," said the groom's mother, Kathy Brooks.
Caragh Brooks, 21, of Australia, met Paul Brooks, 30, on an Internet dating Web site. They already had the same last name.
The couple wrote back and forth and talked on the phone for nine months before Caragh Brooks moved to the United States.
"We have the same brain, just in two bodies," Paul Brooks said. "We think alike in virtually every manner. We have the same interests, viewpoints."
He proposed on New Year's Eve and, because they like to spend time at the local Taco Bell, they decided to wed there.
"I would never have expected in my life in working here there would be a wedding," restaurant manager Carl Hamlow said.

Funny Poem

A Poem Many many years ago
when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow
Who was pretty as could be.

This widow had a grown-up daughter
Who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her,
And soon the two were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life.
My daughter was my mother,
For she was my father's wife.

To complicate the matters worse,
Although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became
A brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,
Though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle,
Then that also made him brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter
Who, of course, was my step-mother.

Father's wife then had a son,
Who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson,
For he was my daughter's son.

My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife,
She's my grandmother too.

If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.

For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa!

[source unknown]

Ten Things

I watched Dasvidaniya movie sometime back. It's a nice story about a comman person who keeps procrastinating his life until he learns he learns that he is going to die due to cancer in 3 months. This awakens him and he realizes that he needs to do things he always wanted to do but never did. There is not much melodrama in the film and except for a few scenes that audience is forced to accept, it is a good movie to watch.

If nothing else it makes us think: what are the (top 10) things you want to do before you die?
Do you have your list? Can you start living it?

Trees

One of my favorite poems...

Trees

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;


A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;


Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

-- Alfred Joyce Kilmer
source: http://www.bartleby.com/104/119.html

For Want of...

For want of knowledge, wisdom was lost

For want of wisdom, character was lost

For want of character, momentum was was lost

For want of momentum, wealth was lost

For want of wealth, the downtrodden were lost

All for want of knowledge was lost..



[Mahatma Phule's thoughts]

Friends

Friends - Elizabeth Jennings

"I fear it's very wrong of me
And yet I must admit
When someone offers friendship
I want the whole of it.

I don't want everybody else
To share my friends with me.
At least I want one special one
Who indisputably,
Likes me much more than all the rest
Who's always on my side,
Who never cares what others say
Who lets me come and hide

Within his shadow, in his house -
It doesn't matter where -
Who lets me simply be myself,
Who's always, always, there."

[from personal collection]

The Best Thing to give

to your enemy ---- forgiveness
to your opponent --- tolerance
to your child --- a good example
to a father --- deference
to a mother --- love
to yourself --- respect
yo your patient --- care that will make him proud of you.

[Read somewhere in a doctor's waiting room]

Attitude

What lies behind us and what lied before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- R W Emerson

On Death

DEATH, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me.

From Rest and Sleep, which but thy picture be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow;

And soonest our best men with thee do go--
Rest of their bones and souls' delivery!

Thou'rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!

-- by John Donne

What a wonderful poem!!

Why I love Signing Time?

Top-ten reasons why I love Signing Time?


Visit Signing Time at: http://www.signingtime.com/


10. Alex and Leah are cute and funny.
9. Rachel & staff is very creative in keeping learning fun.
8. Signing time songs are entertaining and touchy.
7. It keeps my son occupied so that my wife and I can finish our meal :-)
6. It boosts my son's creativity as he develops his own new signs! It helps my grey cells deciphering his new dictionary!
5. Repeating after Rachel helps me understand how to follow a woman's directions and keeps my wife happy!
4. It is a good way to have quality family time together.
3. It is the best way to relax with my son after a tiring day...without moving an inch ;-)
2. When I miss going to the gym, I at least get satisfaction that I exercised my fingers and hands :-)
1. It is the best way to combine learning, creativity and fun for kids.