Living Your Life

Car Man To The Rescue

October 10th, 2012
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Checking Your Air Pressure
I am going to get right to the point today:  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to the man at the BP gas station last night who helped me with the air pressure in my tires.
I was driving home from work last night and suddenly a menancing light came on in the dashboard.  This is what the symbol looked like:
Don’t you hate it when that happens?  Plus, I was really in a panic because I didn’t know what the symbol meant when it appeared on my car’s dashboard.  Was it something big?  Something small?  … Read More

Grounded To The Ground

October 9th, 2012
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Staying Grounded Have you seen that television commercial where the couple is test driving a new car in the desert and then later someone off camera asks them why they liked it? The man says something about wheel rims on the tires and the way the car felt when he was driving it and then the woman says more good stuff about the car and ends the commercial by saying it felt “grounded to the ground.”  The guy off camera can’t believe she has expressed herself this way and he repeats “grounded to the ground” as though it were a… Read More

A Dose of Kindness

October 5th, 2012
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Visiting people who are sick is one of the kindest acts we can ever practice.  Sitting and talking, holding their hand and listening seem so simple to the healthy but those things are so essential in helping the ill know that they matter, that they are not forgotten even though they are no longer able to independently move around. Bringing about a smile or laughter through a funny story is just as important as any medicine prescribed by a doctor.  Laughter, in particular, is a powerful distraction from pain and illness. One of my sisters and her husband are compassionately… Read More

A Grandfather’s Last Letter

October 2nd, 2012
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Grandfathers and Grandchildren Learn From Each Other Many people have good intentions when it comes to writing down their thoughts and feelings about their loved ones.  But then, unfortunately, something happens and they never get to it.  Letting those who are special to you know exactly how you feel about them on paper (in a positive way) is an incredible gift.  Without such a note or letter you are left to either guess at how the person felt about you or you can go on your memory, which depending on your age, could be fuzzy. Now along comes James K.… Read More

Offering Hope

October 1st, 2012
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My family currently has a number of medical situations happening and this past weekend was spent checking in with various people to see what I could do to help the caregivers.  Each situation is stressful for different reasons and the caregivers are doing fantastic jobs but they can’t do it all by themselves. I think I’ve mentioned this in previous posts but I think it’s important to say it again:  listening is a gift. When others come to us with their pain or their joy, I think it is a time for us to show them respect by quietly sitting,… Read More

Happy, Feliz, Joyeux,

September 27th, 2012
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Photo By Carla Culbertson Cranston If only we could live our lives just as these two beautiful children are! Spontaneously and happily! But here’s the thing: WE CAN!!! Surpringly, we have more control over our happiness than you would think. Current research shows that part of our happiness is determined by our temperament or personality.  Many people believe our personalities are locked in from birth because it comes from our DNA.  That’s great if you have a bright, sunny personality.  But if you have a sour, negative personality, and you want to be happier, there is are some things that… Read More

A Widow’s New Chapter

September 26th, 2012
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Photo By Flickr Dating — whether single, widowed or divorced — is a definite roll of the dice.  But if you hit and find your match, it’s a gambler’s dream come true! That is why I think the author of the following story was brave to write about getting back into the high-stakes mating game and answering the questions we would want to ask her if we knew her.  She is honest and direct in the telling of her story and that’s why you want to keep reading. The questions posed here by the author are the ones that people… Read More

Perspective

September 25th, 2012
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Photo By Patti Raab Have you ever been sitting in your car at a traffic light waiting for the light to turn and you look out the window and see something that’s probably been there for months but right at that moment it’s as if you are seeing it for the first time? Why haven’t I noticed that building before?  Are those new plants?  How long has that bench been there? When you slow down or stop the usual routine of what you are doing, it can give you an opportunity to really see the world around you and notice… Read More

What Would Nana Do?

September 24th, 2012
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When life hands me a difficult situation, I think about my Nana and wonder how she would have handled it. My Nana gives me strength and inspiration because she lived a good and simple life. She and my Pop-Pop raised five children (including my mother) during the Depression on as much as $58 a week and for awhile on nothing because my grandfather lost his job.  During the time that there was no paycheck, they lived on canned goods that a relative got for free and and managed to keep their house and continue to feed and clothe their children.… Read More