Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover?

"He who hesitates is lost" vs. "Everything comes to he who waits."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder" vs. "Out of sight, out of mind."

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks" vs. "It's never too late to learn."

"The best things in life are free" vs. "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

"Seeing is believing" vs. "Appearances could be deceptive."

"Tomorrow is another day" vs. "Tomorrow never comes."

It's rather funny to notice how the above aphorisms contradict each other. No wonder proverbs are so confusing. In his new book Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover? the author Julian Baggini deconstructs 100 well-known proverbs and phrases we frequently misuse.



The book seems interesting. But, then, not everything that glitters is gold, eh? I am waiting for the Kindle version to be released, so I can read the book on my Kindle. Since I don't want to judge this book by its cover :).

Machu Picchu

When I met my husband for the first time, a year ago today, we didn't talk much. To me he was just one of the many guys my parents were forcing encouraging me to meet. All I knew was that he worked and lived in California. Since I had no plans of leaving Toronto, I just sat there comfortably on my cynical high horse, while he tried to impress my folks. He was talking to my father about work, and I found him boring. But, when he was finally leaving he gave me the most sincere and sweet smile.

It was because of this smile I agreed to meet him again for our second date. My second first impression of him was completely different from my first. He was so not boring. I found him witty, intelligent, and humble. I saw respect in his eyes. We talked about a lot of things including my research and the swine flu. It was when we were talking about Peru, I realized that it would be a great loss, if I didn't get to spend the rest of my life with him. Since I got the feeling that he would always take care of me. While I was having this epiphany my brain completely froze, and I couldn't, for the life of me, remember the name of the Inca site, Machu Picchu, we were talking about. I literally blanked out for five minutes and then ended up apologizing for my ditziness.

Four months later we got married, and I have been living in the States for the past seven months now. It has taken me a year to actually blog about my love story. Cheesy, I know. Everything with us happened so fast that it got very overwhelming at times. In the first few months I couldn't make sense of it all. But the reason this relationship worked out for us because we knew exactly what we were looking for. So when we finally met each other we didn't waste anytime.

I have realized that what makes marriage work is the commitment the husband and wife have for each other. If it is important for them to have a happy married life, they would do whatever it takes to make it work. Superficial aspects, like oh we must like the same shows, or read the same books are not important in the long run. If the husband and wife both want to keep each other happy they would do whatever it takes to make that happen.

I know it sounds like a simple concept. Just be committed to being committed. But it seems so elusive in today's world. We care too much about the material things.

Life is wonderful and complete, if at the end of the day, you, your loved ones, and your family are healthy and happy. That's all that matters. I know we lose sight of that sometimes. Even I lose sight of that. Living away from family in the States has been a difficult challenge for me. It has made me a snobby patriotic Canadian. But, the fact that I have my husband with me makes everything okay. I can cry to him when I miss home. I can talk to him when I get frustrated. It's just at the end of the day I know he will do anything and everything to keep me happy. And, that is what has made this past one year so remarkably beautiful.