It takes my grandpa at least two minutes to pull a Saltine out of the plastic – this is impressive compared to him performing other domestic duties …

To scramble an egg can take up to 30 or 40 minutes, to heat dinner usually takes the same length of time. Grocery shopping, vacuuming, cleaning a spill, and all “more advanced” cleaning duties are not even in his job description. My mom finds this maddening, my grandma expects it, I find it endearing.

Now don’t judge my grandpa, as this has no reflection on his talents. If you want him to fix a kitchen sink, build a fence, install a water heater, construct a bird feeder, or any type of handiwork, he is your man. And for my grandparents this balance works. Never has my grandma had a broken garbage disposal without it being fixed 30 minutes later, if she wants new white shelves above the TV, three neatly placed white shelves are up the next day. Just the same, my grandpa has a hot meal three times a day, the carpet is always clean, the sheets washed, the kitchen tidy, and the cookie jar aplenty. The only time there ever are issues is when one of them goes off balance, like in the current case, when my grandma is semi-bedridden after knee surgery.

The last two mornings I’ve gotten up and first thing walked down the street to their house. I’ll scramble an egg, wash the counter and floor, possibly pull out the vacuum, start a load of laundry, start a grocery shopping list, take the dog out for some exercise -- all in under 40 minutes. Then the bigger tasks like grocery shopping and going to the bank are still done in less than 60 minutes. Tasks like these would take my grandpa days, or possibly -- and more than likely -- never all be completed. Now, as an XY chromosome, and a highly-domestic personality, I find joy in this. I can’t change a tire, I’m not the biggest fan of mowing the lawn, and if you told me to fix a toilet I would cry. But ask me to polish a wood floor, make a decent meal, and sew a rip in a pair of jeans, and I put on a little music, cheerfully getting to work. Despite this, I realize not all men and women are so keen on their exact gender roles, and in today’s society the extreme dependency on each role is more or less a rarity. Yet for my grandparents, this isn’t the case.

While I understand the frustration my grandma must feel when it takes my grandpa 30 minutes to fry her egg, she also feels lucky that she has him to try to help her when she’s sick. Though I find a flicker of humor in it all, I go back to the word endearing, as watching him clumsily get her a cracker and stiffly put the long white sock on her bad leg is real love. Sure he can’t really do it, he may burn things, under or over feed her, and scrunch her toes as he fights with the sock, but he overcomes his unnaturalness toward domestic duties because he loves her, and because of that, it wouldn’t be natural to do anything else.

Timeless songs:

I’m sitting here in my air-conditioned room, plopped peacefully on my bed, bouncing my feet back and forth to Eric Clapton’s “Layla,” thinking: "hmmm, 'Melissa' would sound even better than “Layla” in this cool rock song." In all reality, I was just reflecting on how much I love music – all kinds – classical, oldies, classic rock, hip-hop, rock, really jazzy French music, sentimental country, Christian, rap, even pretty intense rock is alright by me, just no “screamo.” Music moves, inspires, reflects, and can even tell us things (whether we should listen or not), and even though my musical talents peak at middle school choir -- nine years of muffled flute playing (trying to let the rest of the flute section overbear me), aspiring piano (?), and one month of singing lessons (please don’t go there) – I still love music.

Though I haven’t put much thought into this post, off the cuff, here are twelve favorite songs (though I have ten million more):

1.) Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR), “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” is probably my favorite song. This classic rock, fairly-lyrically ambiguous tune, does it for me every time. What drawls me to this song isn’t so much the lyrical paradox of “the rain coming down on a sunny day” or the highly Snare Drum dependent beat, but more the feeling the song invokes. It reminds me of times of chance, of the good in chance, and just like how it can rain on a sunny day, paradoxes can happen, and in change, life can take me by surprise, too.

2.) Coldplay, “Fix You.” Quite possibly the most romantic song to me; I am fully aware that no one but God can fix me, yet still the concept that someone (such as the lead singer of Coldplay -- Chris Martian) would even care to try, is just about the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. Really, you’d have to understand me fully to get why I really like this song, but as far as I’m concerned it’s romance at its pinnacle. Not to mention a great running song during the dramatic … “dannahdunahhh!” “Green Eyes” and “Swallowed In The Sea” are also favorites.

3.) Frank Sinatra, “The Way You Look Tonight” captures classy without too much mushy. My favorite line is “that smile that wrinkles your nose touches my foolish heart.” What I like about that line is that a “wrinkled nose” is really only attractive to someone who’s completely smitten.

4.) Dave Matthew’s Band, “Grey Street.” As choice #2 unveiled, I like songs about men singing about mysterious/broken women.

5.) The Eagles, “Take it Easy,” or “Hotel California,” etc. Basically, like CCR, the Eagles can do no wrong.

6.) Flogging Molly, “If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” has a slight Celtic flair that touches my Irish roots (assuming I have Irish roots). Not to mention the lead singer has kind of a hot voice (in a funky, clear your throat, kind of Irish way).

7.) Brandy Carlile, “The Story.” As a lover of stories, this song tops the charts. “All of these lines across my face tell you the story of who I am, so many stories of where I've been, but these stories don’t mean anything unless you’ve got someone to tell them to …”

8.) Rocky Voloato (whoever he is), “White Daisy Passing” soars my itunes play count at nearly 200 because it evokes an emotion when I listen to it that I just plain like. Best listened to on a rainy day ;)

9.) Les Miserables, “Do You Hear The People Sing” – this song makes me want to be French.

10.) Snow Patrol, “Open Your Eyes,” made it on the list solely for the line “they don’t get your soul or your fire.” I love that line every time I hear the song.

11.) Wreakless Eric, “Whole Wide Word,” just like in Stranger Than Fiction, would you like to play this on the guitar for me? Please don’t be a Will Ferrell look-alike (fingers crossed).

12.) Elliott Smith, “All Cleaned Out;” once again, the “broken woman phenomenon” reels me in.

Bonus: My all time favorite hymn is "It is Well." I'm not sure why adding that to the list is a bonus, except for the fact that I didn't want to create a number 13.

*Note: these are not necessarily my "favorite songs” (with the exception of number one). This, of course, excludes my shallow, hip-hop indulgences that I’d rather not publicize.