Owning our mistakes
I can honestly say, if I screw up, I admit it and try to do better. I’m not perfect. I’ll never be perfect. I apologize when my imperfections impact others.
If only everyone would take responsibility for their mess-ups. It’s okay not to be perfect, join the club, there’s a large membership and I’m the president!
Walking down a hill during my solo afternoon walk today, a man was walking up that same hill approximately a half block away. His small white dog – not on a leash – ran past its owner and toward me. I turned right onto a different street, the dog followed me and barked at me. I said “no” a few times and he eventually backed off. (No involvement by the dog owner whatsoever.)
One and a half miles later, that same dog owner, with that same unleashed dog, ended up on the same street as I, a half block away, on the opposite side of the street.
Lighten up Mondays
For me, 2016 signals the start of massive editing of my second novel’s manuscript. Here are some jokes on the writing craft that might amuse you as they did me.
If writers were good business people, they’d have too much sense to be writers. – Irvin S. Cobb
If Moses were alive today he’d come down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and spend the next five years trying to get them published. – Anonymous
Learn to write. Never mind the damn statistics. If you like statistics, become a CPA. – Jim Murray
Writing is so difficult, I often feel that writers, having had their hell on earth, will escape all punishment thereafter. – Jessamyn West
I was sorry to hear my name mentioned as one of the great authors, because they have a sad habit of dying off. Chaucer is dead, so is Milton, so is Shakespeare, and I am not feeling very well myself – Mark Twain
The world is a hellish place and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering. – Tom Waits
The only time I’ll get good reviews is if I kill myself. – Edward Albee
And last but certainly not least:
Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs. – Christopher Hampton
Manuscript editing: getting the 2nd novel ready for publication
It’s the first full week of 2016 and I am extraordinarily excited …
because it’s time to hunker down and get my second novel ready for publication!
I’ve gathered my materials and laid them out on our large formal dining table: chapter timeline, character profiles, 2014 – 2016 calendars (the years in which the action of my novel takes place), varied colors of pens and highlighters, the “completed” manuscript brought in from the iCloud and onto my iPad, and I’m raring to go.
This is gonna be hard work people, make no mistake about it, but the excitement I’m experiencing is palpable and even manages to keep me awake at night.
I believe in the story, I absolutely love my characters, and I sincerely detest those who are detestable, and I’m going to perfect this manuscript … at least as much as perfection is possible from me, an imperfect writer.
Hard work is the stepping stone that no one can avoid by simply leaping over or stepping around it. I’ve never been afraid of hard work, and I’m not going to start being so now.
Do you have a difficult task you are about to start that’s got you excited, or perhaps petrified? Is anything or anyone holding you back? Are you up to the challenge?
See also, First step for any endeavor, START!
Lighten up Mondays
Happy 2016 everyone! I’m starting off the first Monday of this new year by introducing the new logo for this weekly injection of humor.
Some of you live in the colder regions of the world, some of you don’t, but all of you will appreciate these quips that follow the line:
It was so cold that …
- Hitchhikers were holding up pictures of thumbs.
- Roosters were rushing into Kentucky Fried Chicken and begging to use the pressure cooker.
- Richard Simmons started wearing pants.
- UN weapons inspectors suddenly decided that chemical weapons might be hidden in Hawaii.
- Pickpockets were sticking their hands in strangers’ pockets just to keep them warm.
- Rats were bribing alley cats for a snuggle.
- Dogs were wearing cats.
- Squirrels in the park were throwing themselves at the electric fence.
- Words froze in the air: if you wanted to hear what someone said, you had to grab a handful of sentences and take them in by the fire.
- We pulled everything out of the freezer and huddled inside it to warm up.
- When we milked the cows, we got ice cream; when we milked the brown cows, we got chocolate ice cream.
Happy 2016 to one and all. And remember, stop taking yourself so seriously … no one else does.
How to make the best of a New Year, every day
My last post of 2015 talked about making resolutions you can actually fulfill.
This first post of 2016 proposes that every day be treated as one does a New Year.
I’ll borrow sentiments from Dr. Bernie S. Siegel again, providing you with wisdom that might help you get a good start on 2016, and every day you’ve been given. Direct quotes will appear indented in this post.
How can you have a new year? You are the same person, and the world doesn’t start again with a clean slate. Your troubles don’t disappear. People don’t forgive you for what you did the year before…
Your life is anything but new when you awaken on the first day of the year. It is simply a way of measuring the passage of time. Why make such a fuss over it?
We like new starts, don’t we? There’s something refreshing about having the opportunity to start all over again. Not unlike second chances, I treat the commencement of a new year as an opportunity to do better. Unless you’re perfect, you too like the idea of a fresh start.
The truth lies in our desire to be reborn, to start again, to make resolutions and changes we can live up to. Then why wait for a certain date to start a new year? Why can’t tomorrow be New Year’s Day?
Maybe it is!
Wow, instead of waiting 365 days to do better, I can do better in the next minute. I don’t even have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, I can do better. I can think of and speak more kindly towards others and myself. I can promote a healthier lifestyle and make plans to construct a better me and a better world. Why wait?
I see it every day in my role as a physician; people learn they have a limited time to live, and they start their New Year behavior. They move, change jobs, spend more time with those they love, stop worrying about what everyone else thinks of them, and start to celebrate their life.
Whoa, why wait until it’s too late? Quite literally, when you’ve been given a death sentence, it is too late. I’m not going to rely on receiving such a prognosis to get things right, I’m going to make every effort to do better for myself and others, right now.
I have the chance to live my best life now, and so do you.
When every evening is New Year’s Eve and every day you awaken to is New Year’s Day, you are living life as it was intended.
Wow, given the alternative, I’ll get right on it!
New Year, new goals?
Good Bye 2015
Resolutions, they can be worth celebrating, but more often than not, they shame us and fill us with guilt.
Dr. Bernie S. Siegel, 365 Prescriptions for the Soul, had the following to say about these annual promises to ourselves that we oftentimes make without thinking them through:
It is not a bad thing to make a New Year’s resolution, but you can also continuously set yourself up to fail. Be realistic and forgiving. The best resolution is to accept your limitations and start from there. Resolve not to give up on yourself, and be sure to love yourself, even when you don’t like your behavior.
It is far easier to live with the old regrets and problems than to change. So resolve to practice doing what you have resolved, rather than achieving sainthood tomorrow.
As you write down your resolutions, remember these things:
Be kind; do not set yourself up for failure by creating multiple resolutions that involve too much self-denial.
Keep your goals manageable and realistic. The best resolutions leave one day of the week to enjoy being human and not living by any rules or expectations you have created.
Soulution of the Day
Resolve slowly, so you don’t get dizzy and fall down on the job.
Lighten up Mondays
Last 2015 humor submission: quotes associated with New Years.
Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits. – Unknown
Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. – Oprah Winfrey
Now is the time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. – Mark Twain
Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account. – Oscar Wilde
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in.
A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve.
Old age is when you’re forced to. – Bill VaughnAnd finally:
A dog’s New Year’s resolution: I will not chase that stick unless I actually see it leave his hand. – Unknown
The Gift
The top item on my Christmas list this year was something 100% of you would never ask Santa for:
A new guest bathroom toilet
The current one doesn’t resemble the one pictured here, but it has been in the house since it was constructed some 25 years ago, so it’s not one of those sophisticated, high efficiency, low water type such as grace our master bathroom and powder room.
Did my husband, I mean, Santa, get my #1 gift choice?
Not on your life. Instead he gifted me with a portable electronic device from a company that rhymes with Dapple.
I guess I’ll just have to find a use for it to honor the generosity of the best husband a woman could ever hope for.
Lest you think I measure generosity with dollar signs, read further. Read the rest of this entry »
Lighten up Mondays
It was Christmas Eve. A poor old lady was sitting alone, except for her cat, in her tiny house in front of a small fire.
Suddenly there was a flash of light and the old woman’s good fairy appeared in the room. The old woman was astonished, but the fairy reassured her, “Don’t be afraid, I am your good fairy. You are very poor and all alone at Christmas so I have come to grant you three wishes to cheer you up.”
The old woman was about to speak but the fairy held up her hand. “Wait! she said, “Before you make a wish, think carefully! You will get exactly what you wish for and no wish can be undone.”
So the old woman sat silently, staring at the fire and thinking. Eventually, she spoke. “First,” she said, “I want to be very, very wealthy.”
Poof! Immediately the tiny house was packed with pots full of gold coins. There was more money than anyone could spend in an entire lifetime. Read the rest of this entry »
It is never wrong to do good
You’ll never be faulted for doing your best.
Regardless of the outcome, always fall back on doing something for the common good.
I’m currently reading The Road to Character, a book by columnist and political pundit, David Brooks. I recently watched an interview of his with Oprah Winfrey and was so impressed with the subject matter, I purchased the book he was promoting.
Mr. Brooks talks and writes about the difference between Adam I and Adam II, the latter being the person who has lived a eulogy life, not the resume life of Adam I. You’ll need to read the book to understand the full contextual meaning, but what follows is just one of many elements that resounded with me. I provide this excerpt verbatim:
When a person gives a poor man shoes, does he do it for the poor man or for God? He should do it for God …
The poor will often be ungrateful, and you will lose heart if you rely on immediate emotional rewards for your work. But if you do it for God, you will never grow discouraged.
A person with a deep vocation is not dependent on constant positive reinforcement. The job doesn’t have to pay off every month, or every year.
The person thus called is performing a task because it is intrinsically good, not for what it produces.
You see, we’re not responsible for the outcome. Most of the time, we’ll never witness how our good deeds helped another person. If our motivation was only to observe first-hand the benefits such deeds might produce, we’d stop doing good in short order. We must exercise faith and hope that our actions are not wasted.
Your ability to discern your vocation depends on the condition of your eyes and ears, whether they are sensitive enough to understand the assignment your context is giving you. As the Jewish Mishnah puts it, “It’s not your obligation to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from beginning it.”
All that we do with a clear conscience is good. We must not refrain from standing up and stepping forward. The good we do may be the beginning of a widespread process of well-being for others, or it may be the finishing touches on that which was started some time before you came into the picture.
It’s never too late to do good. Why resolutionize your intentions until next year? Start now.
See also: Your positive imprint on mankind, Do little rather than nothing, Valuable acts of kindness, Positive community activism
Gone but not forgotten
Having completed my second novel, currently titled BRIDGED BY BETRAYAL, I packed up all the research I used for my first novel, REQUIEM FOR THE STATUS QUO.
REQUIEM spotlights a family that struggles with the tangible and emotional elements inherent when battling a disease that is always fatal; a disease that gives you daily – if not hourly – reminders of its devastating effects.
I could not write about the fictional family’s journey without incorporating some of my own stories from my years as Dad’s caregiver. I also included other people’s stories as told to me through my work as an Alzheimer’s caregiver support group facilitator, and as a Washington State certified Long-Term Care Ombudsman. (Names and facts altered to protect those directly involved.)
The research materials I packed away this past weekend consisted primarily of the caregiving journals I kept while being my father’s primary long-distance caregiver while he endured Alzheimer’s disease.
That research also included reams of paper I organized into multi-tabbed folders containing the various doctor’s reports and findings from the seven years of dad’s disease journey.
I was not prepared for the emotion with which I was blanketed when I pulled out the large waterproof chest that had resided in my writing space the past three years. Placing my research in the chest, shutting it, and returning it to its original under-the-stairs location was extremely difficult for me.
In a certain sense, I felt I had betrayed Dad because I wasn’t just packing up some paper, I was putting away the physical evidence of his seven year battle of brain function loss. Read the rest of this entry »
Lighten up Mondays
The preacher had just begun his Christmas Eve service when the electricity in the church failed.
The ushers found some candles and placed them around the sanctuary.
The preacher then re-entered the pulpit, shuffled his notes, and muttered, “Now, where was I?”
A tired voice from the back called out, “I believe you were right near the end, Reverend!”
Lighten up Mondays
Just as the mother was putting out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, she accidentally dropped one.
“No problem,” she said, picking it up and dusting it off before placing it back on the plate.
“You can’t do that,” argued the four-year-old.
“Don’t worry, Santa will never know.”
Her son shot a look at his mom. “So he knows if I’ve been bad or good, but he doesn’t know the cookie fell on the floor?”
Introducing: Lainey Piland, environmental writer/advocate and photographer
In the past, I’ve written posts spotlighting an artist who uses paints, brushes and charcoal for her creations: Mary Riesche: artist and sister extraordinaire, and Art worth viewing: spotlight on Mary Riesche.
Today’s focus is on an artist who uses words, sentences, and photographs as the canvas for her creations.
Lainey Piland happens to be one of my stepdaughters, so with that matter disclosed, I can now continue to rave about her talents without any masked conflict of interest. When you check out her blog, A Day Without Rain, you’ll rave about her abilities as well.
I don’t think Lainey would mind my saying that as a youngster she was far from enamored with hiking in any shape or form. (This is a fact admitted by the artist herself and her father, my husband.) But in the past several years, hiking has indeed become a passion of hers. Her husband, TJ, benefits from her hiking passion and gifts her with acceptance and total lack of complaining when called upon to accompany her on her many jaunts throughout the Pacific Northwest. Read the rest of this entry »
Lighten up Mondays
In colder parts of the country, some undomesticated pests make their way inside of buildings to escape the cold. What follows is what transpired in one cold-weathered town:
Three buildings in town were overrun by squirrels: the town hall, the hardware store, and the church.
The town hall brought in some cats but after they tore up all the paper files, the mayor got rid of the feline help and soon the squirrels were back.
The hardware store humanely trapped the squirrels and set them free outside town. Three days later, the squirrels made their way back into the hardware store.
Only the church came up with an effective solution: they baptized the squirrels and made them members.
Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.
Second novel … completed!
Yes, it’s true, I finished my second novel at approximately 3:30 pm PST November 25th, 2015. I wrote a 60,201 word novel (10,201 words above the required minimum word count) in 25 days as a participant in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) event.
Is the novel ready for publication? Hell no. Now begins the editing, fleshing out, adding and subtracting of content, and fact-checking drudgery required of a book fit for representation and publication.
But I did it! I averaged 2,408 words per day; yesterday alone I wrote 3,879 words in five and a half hours.
It’s all in the preparation, Bay-bee, at least for me it was. For the first time, I used a novel-planning software called Snowflake Pro developed by Randy Ingermanson. This software isn’t writing software per-se, rather, it’s planning software that helps you craft all the necessary elements for your novel.
The greatest realized benefits occurred in Step Three (wherein you create a list of characters and flesh out their storyline) and Step Seven (where you’re forced to answer forty-seven questions about each of your characters.) These questions are quite thorough, from stating the height and weight of your character, to best and worst childhood memory, to religion and political leanings, to how the character sees herself and how others see the character, and much more.
Armed with these character profiles, the writing came easy for me. Of course I changed some of the initial answers as I completed one chapter after another. As is usually the case when drafting a novel, I found as I got to know the character better, I needed to redesign its destiny, but without a preliminary resume of sorts, I would have found myself floundering – not a comfortable position to be in when you’re on deadline. Yep, I’m certain I would not have experienced the same outcome without the software’s guidance. Read the rest of this entry »
Life can turn on a dime
December 28, 2015 – I am thrilled to report that my grandnephew went home from the hospital 1.5 weeks after this article posted. He seems to be flourishing at home and the hope is that in time, there will be no recognizable cognitive changes for him. He is such a sweetheart, whatever happens in the future, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. The support of his parents will carry this little guy through thick and thin. They are truly wonderful human beings.
A couple days ago, my family received the unfortunate news about the youngest member of our very large family, my grand nephew, Kingsley.
This adorable, full of life, seven month old is hospitalized with bacterial meningitis. Just like that, the parents’ Facebook posts changed from lively, getting into trouble photos, to a photo of their unconscious son in his PICU crib, hooked up to fluids. He was moved to a regular room yesterday and could be there for another week. The PICU photo was replaced with one of him smiling while still hooked up to the antibiotic fluids his body desperately needs.
God help him, God help his parents.
It’s sure difficult to look for the good in such a horrible situation but Kingsley’s mother, my niece, posted a comment saying how blessed she felt with the attentive medical staff that was taking care of her precious son. And she felt as though she was being held in the arms of all of us who were praying and stating positive intentions for his recovery. She found good in the bad.
My morning meditation reading today by Dr. Bernie S. Siegel addressed ones focus when in trouble: where to look and what you look for. I thought I would share it with you today: Read the rest of this entry »
Lighten up Mondays
An 80-year old man called his son in New York one November day.
The father said to the son, “I hate to tell you, but we’ve got some troubles here in the house. Your mother and I can’t stand each other anymore, and we’re getting a divorce. I’ve had it! I want to live out the rest of my years in peace. I’m telling you now, so you and your sister won’t go into shock later when I move out.”
He hung up, and the son immediately called his sister in the Hamptons to tell her the news.
The sister said, “I’ll handle this.”
She called Florida and told her father, “Don’t do ANYTHING till we get there! We’ll be there Wednesday night.”
The father agreed, “All right.”
The old man hung up the phone and hollered to his wife, “Okay, they’re coming for Thanksgiving. Now, what are we going to tell them for Christmas?”
First step for any endeavor: START
You have an idea that turns into a personal goal. You plan for it, making a list of To Dos and To Purchase, or whatever lists are required to put your idea into motion.
Then you’re paralyzed: when do I start? how do I start? You begin to second guess your idea, your plans, your goal.
Paralysis by analysis sets in. You freeze in place. You do nothing for a day, a week, a month, eventually discarding the project about which you were initially very excited.
Doubt sidelined your goal.
For me, taking that first step can be the beginning of failure, and because it is, oftentimes it’s a step I choose not to take.
I signed up for National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, in August or September, I don’t remember. I purchased book-drafting software called Snowflake, and went through every step needed to prepare an outline and/or book proposal for a novel, my second. I was extremely excited about the novel’s concept.
I kept receiving NaNoWriMo emails, counting down the days until November 1st when that novel writing month would commence. The second week of October I questioned the sensibility of subjecting myself to completing a novel in thirty days. The third week of October, I ceased all preparation. Monday of the fourth week of October, I decided not to participate. Read the rest of this entry »
Lighten up Mondays
On a flight to Florida, the doctor was preparing his notes for one of the parent-education seminars he conducted as an educational psychologist.
The elderly woman sitting next to him explained that she was returning to Miami after having spent two weeks with her six children, eighteen grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren in Boston.
Then she inquired as to what the doctor did for a living. He told her – listing his credentials – fully expecting her to question him for free professional advice.
Instead, she sat back, picked up a magazine and said, “If there’s anything you want to know, just ask me.”
Isolation after the death of a loved one
I had the privilege of facilitating an Alzheimer’s caregiver support group meeting this afternoon. For several years I facilitated my own caregiver support meeting but retired from doing so in 2013. Earlier this year I was the substitute facilitator for this same meeting and was so very impressed with the group of ladies I met then, a few of whom were in the meeting again today.
One of the gals, Georgina (not her real name) lost her husband to Alzheimer’s in January. She told the group that while her husband was still alive, the two of them were always invited to a Holiday gathering of friends – all married couples – to celebrate the Christmas season. She found out recently that she was not invited to this year’s event.
Quite frankly, she hadn’t yet thought about the Holiday party, thinking the invitation might be forthcoming but certainly wasn’t stressing out about it. Quite innocently, one of her friends mentioned the party in passing, saying, “Looking forward to seeing you at the annual Christmas celebration” not realizing that the host of the party had not included Georgina on this year’s guest list.
The attendees at today’s meeting had these thoughts to say about the situation: Read the rest of this entry »
Thank you for your service
Thank you for your military service in the U.S. Army, Don Paul Desonier, my brother; and in the Canadian Armed Forces during America’s involvement in WWII, Don Patrick Desonier, my father.
Thank you also, Stewart Olson, my father-in-law, for your military service to the United States of America. Without the commitment and dedication of these three men, and millions of others over the years, freedom wouldn’t be a word with which we would be very familiar.
Need Tips for Moving with Dementia Loved One
I am reblogging this article from a fellow blogger. Please, she needs help discerning the best way to get her mother-in-law acclimated once the entire family moves into a new house 1.5 months from now; AND she’ll need pointers on the actual move itself, to facilitate such a move with someone with dementia.
Lighten up Mondays
After Brian proposed to Jill, his father took him to one side.
“Son, when I first got married to your mother, the first thing I did when we got home was take off my pants. I gave them to your mother and told her to try them on, which she did.
“They were huge on her and she said she couldn’t wear them because they were too large. I said to her, ‘Of course they are too big for you, I wear the pants in this family and I always will.’ Ever since that day we have never had a single problem.”
Brian took his dad’s advice and did the same thing to his wife on his wedding night. Then Jill took off her panties and gave them to Brian. “Try these on,” she said.
Brian went along with it and tried them on but they were far too small. “What’s the point of this? I can’t get into your panties.”
“Exactly,” Jill replied, “and if you don’t change your attitude, you never will!”
NaNoWriMo Survival Guide: How I Write 50k(-ish) Every Month
Source: NaNoWriMo Survival Guide: How I Write 50k(-ish) Every Month This hilarious writer/blogger knows of what he speaks. This will give the non-writers an idea of what us writers go through. I appreciate his tell it like it is writing style, including the swear words … especially the swear words.
Lighten up Mondays
A lady goes to the doctor and complains that her husband is losing interest in sex.
The doctor gives her a pill but warns her that it’s still experimental. He tells her to slip it into her husband’s mashed potatoes at dinner, so that night she does just that.
About a week later, she’s back at the doctor’s office where she says, “Doc, the pill worked great! I put it in the potatoes like you said. It wasn’t five minutes later that he jumped up, raked all the food and dishes onto the floor, grabbed me, ripped off all my clothes and made love to me right there on the table!”
The doctor replied, “I’m sorry, we didn’t realize the pill was that strong. The medical foundation will be glad to pay for any damages.”
“Nah, that’s okay. We’re never going back to that restaurant anyway.”
The past – and the truth – have set me free
Oftentimes we’re told that we should forget about the past. Sure, it’s okay to learn from past bad decisions, but sometimes those years are better left alone.
The other day, I went back twenty-one years to uncover the basis for a mystery that has haunted me since September 24th, 1994. Twenty one years of fear and uncertainty came to an end in just ten minutes time.
My mother died on September 24th, 1994 in my parents’ home in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was 77 years old and she died in her sleep. Although she had some chronic health-related issues with which to contend, no one could have predicted her sudden death because she lived a vital and active life.
Dad didn’t want an autopsy performed on my mother which – at the time – I was okay with; it was his decision to make; he didn’t want her body assaulted just to find out why her life ended on that particular day.
That decision was the basis for my twenty-one years of fear.
Read the rest of this entry »
It takes courage to be passionate
David Brooks’ article, Lady Gaga and the life of passion, speaks of putting ourselves out there for something for which we are passionate.
All that is needed for a person to conclude that Lady Gaga puts herself out there is to watch just one of her performances or appearances at awards shows. She wore a meat dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Outsiders like ourselves look at such a display and might think unkind thoughts about a person who is extremely passionate about her craft.
For most of us, putting ourselves out there means singing at the top of our lungs in the shower or car where no one can hear us. Or perhaps our definition of being out there means matching a floral print top with checked shorts when on vacation where no one knows us.
David Brooks’ article covers the passion involved when we’re courageous enough to follow our dreams, dreams portrayed in this manner by Lady Gaga:
I suppose that I didn’t know what I would become, but I always wanted to be extremely brave and I wanted to be a constant reminder to the universe of what passion looks like. What it sounds like. What it feels like.
Given that description, us aforementioned outsiders might feel differently about how this extraordinarily talented singer/performer expresses herself.
So what does it mean to live a life of passion? Read the rest of this entry »
Lighten up Mondays
An old man and woman were married for years and years even though they hated each other. When they had an argument, screams and yelling could be heard deep into the night. Repeatedly a threat was heard from the old man against his wife. “When I die, I will dig my way up and out of the grave to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life!”
The old man died abruptly under strange circumstances and the funeral had a closed casket. After the burial, the wife went straight to the local bar, met up with some neighbors, and began to party like there was no tomorrow.
The gaiety of her actions were becoming extreme when her neighbors approached her and asked, “Aren’t you afraid of the way you’re behaving? Your husband is probably just as powerful in death as he was in life. Didn’t he threaten to dig his way up out of the grave to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life?”
With a self-satisfied smile on her face, the widow put her drink down and responded, “Let the old guy dig. I had him buried upside down.”
Pack courage in your toolbox
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you are facing difficulties that seem insurmountable, I want to en-courage you to draw on that which lies deep within you.
Oh, sure, you may think you lack what it takes to climb over that speed bump – or mountain – that’s directly in front of you, but I have faith that you will not only do so, but you will rise victorious to the top.
You are stronger than you think.
Believe it.
Living: the ultimate team sport 