parenting

How to Lend that Helping Hand

“Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.” ~ Horace Mann ♦♦♦ Walking down the aisle of the grocery, I noticed the older gentleman looking at an item clearly out of reach from where he sat in his chair. While my instinct is to jump to help, I’ve learned it isn’t always appreciated, so […]

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The Value of the Valley

“What stands in the way becomes the way.”  ~Marcus Aurelius ♦♦♦ Standing on the hillside, she could see a very long distance. She could see another hill just across the way. Low and behold, there was the building she was trying to reach. Wrong hill. Or was it? Between this hill and that was a […]

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Taste and See — Life is Good

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt ♦♦♦ The call came, “Hey! I’ve ended up with two extra tickets to a great show. I know it’s last minute, but do you want to […]

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Freedom Begins at the Bottom

“And the turtles, of course…all the turtles are free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.” ― Dr. Seuss, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories ♦♦♦   Holding the little lightning bug in her cupped hands, she waited for the glowing to happen again. It was such a spectacular sight to see the lights popping up […]

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It Takes Two

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller ♦♦♦ Just one more push and the desk would be at the top of the stairs. She was sure she could do it by herself. That is until she ran out of steam and knew for certain that she would […]

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Who Am I?

What a liberation to realize that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am. ‘Who am I, then?’ The one who sees that. ~ Eckhart Tolle ♦♦♦ The voice in his head yelled as he walked out of the interview. “Why did you answer that way? You are such an idiot!” He was […]

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20 20 20

“While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.” ― Dorothea Lange ♦♦♦ 1987. Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Sitting at […]

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The Power of the Pen (or pencil)

When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love. ~ Marcus Aurelius *** Coming down early in the morning, I would usually find my mother sitting at the kitchen table writing in her calendar book. She had a separate place in which she […]

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Hashtag My Favorite Meds

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” ~Seneca Palm open in the photo, the person showed several different pills, many different colors. It was the words beneath the photo that caught my attention. The individual wrote how much she didn’t want to take those pills, but how taking the pills allowed her to […]

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Teach Me, Shape Me

When I had my first voice lesson I was 15 years old. And I had a really good teacher. This is what made all the difference. A good teacher will teach you the technique, but also how to listen to your voice. ~Cecilia Bartoli Opening the brown paper bag when I left the school, I […]

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Thoughts to Encourage

Joy is the will which labors, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph.~ William Butler Yeats

Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right. - Henry Ford

The best way out is always through. ~ Robert Frost

Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~ Theodore N. Vail

Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

You must be the change you want to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

Nothing helps like a good nap…

Birds are Beautiful

A Dog is Faithful…