I set my sights high. I wrote an article on my Christmas thoughts and sent it off to the New York Times. My first Op/Ed article ever. Their instructions explain a delayed response means they are not interested. So when several days passed and no email arrived from the Times, I quickly retooled my article and sent it locally.

Again, days passed and I was just about to post it here. But lo and behold, an email appeared in my In Box asking for my tagline for the end of the article. No mention of whether or not they were really going to print it but I sent in a brief descriptive sentence. Two days later, there it was. What a thrill to see it in print.

For those who missed it:

Keep God's name, message part of Christmas
BY CAROLINE
It's time to haul out my boxes of decorations. In the corner of the attic, underneath the garland and tree lights, sits one box marked "God."
But before I open it, I plan on consulting the media, because I didn't get the word yet on whether God classifies as taboo or trendy this year.
Is it OK to say his name during seasonal plays or school parties? How about yelling his name in traffic?
My friends rely on my knowledge of proper decorum, so I don't want to let them down.
Why even give a thought to God this season? I'm just a mother, wife, beach lover, scooter owner, coffee shop inhabitant, tea drinker, '70s disco queen, past PTA president, pizza snob and ... a theologian?
But if it is indeed hip to speak God's name this year, I want to name-drop in the finest fashion. I want to talk about where he has been seen lately, but sometimes I have trouble seeing him at all.
Maybe what I need is that fabled star to appear again. The one with a tail as big as a kite! I have a hunch that star, famous for directing the wise men, was meant to point all of us to the same place - a place that gives meaning to the insignificant, respect to the untouchables, healing to the sick, succor to the battered, hope to the defeated, but most of all, love all around.
Maybe if we all loved better we wouldn't have so much trouble seeing him. I believe I will throw caution to the wind by speaking of him this season, trendy or not.
In fact, I will even put him on my Christmas list along with all my other wishes.
Merry Christmas!
Caroline is a free-lance writer living in XXXXX

I thought I understood some of the basic rules of friendship. Some of them sound good on paper but when fleshed out, prove impossible to employ. Here is one we all tend to embrace, “It is better to give than to receive.” Giving is good. But what if the giving has left you emotionally bankrupt with the promise of a return, foreclosed on?

When do love, support and sacrifice flip to the dark side and translate into feeling used? Is it disingenuous to want reciprocation reflecting your own desires?

In my life, constant tension exists between strong relationships and co-dependency. Just when I think my boundaries are strong and healthy, I experience a break in the fence. I then find myself wandering around in a pasture not intended for me and unable to identify the insulating knobs of the electric fence before getting zapped.

My gut response to the pain involves moving somewhere cloistered. If you don’t engage then you won’t get hurt, right? I am not Catholic, though.

But I know that life was meant for relationships. It’s just that the angst involved in maintaining them sometimes dissuades me from the continuation of good ones.

The voice in my head chides pull back you silly girl. What were you thinking getting so close to others? I don’t think I like the question or the alternative.

Caroline