Thankful for Grumpy

All around me this season I see grumpy people running hither and thither amidst their tasks and responsibilities.  I remember calling a friend of mine and her husband answered the phone.  "Hi (we'll call him Frank) Frank!  How's life?"  "It sucks." he replied.  Oh.  "How's (we'll call her Carol) Carol?"  "She's a pain in my *ss." he grunted. OK. "How are those beautiful kids?" "They're a pain in my *ss too." he laughed cynically.

A year later he was living with his parents, jobless and friendless. Carol had kicked him out and given him basic visitation rights for their kids. 

What I'm trying to say is to try to realize every day how many things are going RIGHT.  You may be having a hard day but the car started.  The garage door closed.  The washing machine didn't need repair.  If something went wrong you had a phone, you knew who to call to help you.

Nobody died. You were able to get out of bed and put two feet on the floor.  You were able to think for yourself.  Hopefully you didn't have to depend on someone else to help you with your most personal tasks.  

You may feel stressed by your budget, but if you have $10 in your wallet or your pocket you have more than most of the people in this world.  

THANK YOU for reading our blog.

Lizard Chapter 12: WINTER ARRIVES

Days, weeks, months passed. The winter was the hardest winter on record. She was grieving and she was healing. Time heals everything if you let it. Still, she thought of me night and day. She thought of her father a lot. She thought of Mr. Lizard often too. She thought of him as the monsoons washed the autumn away. She thought about him and worried for him with the snow and the wind and the cold. She wondered where he was living and she prayed that he was safe and somehow warm. She was glad that she believed in Heaven and the Rainbow Bridge so that she didn't worry so much about her Dad and me. She didn't understand that she didn't need to worry about Lizard either. 

Meanwhile Lizard was concerned that she was upset with him. It is hard to be God's messenger when you come to take someone away from someone who loves them. He hoped that she would forgive him because he knew that forgiveness is one of the most important things on the face of the earth.  

This! Is So True!!!!!!!

F. Scott Fitzgerald was right about a lot of things.

Putting The Pieces Together

It's hard to believe that I started my Elderplanning business nearly twenty years ago and have been a professional social worker for over thirty.  At a certain time in our lives we find ourselves asking: Where does the time go? 

I have worked tirelessly for many hours working directly with people to help them know how to plan for an uncertain future. Now I am writing the book in the hopes reach many more 
...and to plan for my own. 

Stay Tuned!

We're All in Training

Dear God help me.
I need more strength. Endurance. Tolerance.
It's getting more intense.
Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.
"Increase the weight! Keep going!"
I don't know if I can take any more.
Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.
They say that repeating something over and over makes it easier and makes you stronger.
"Add the weight and you will surpass what you have done thus far."
It's already so heavy. I don't think I can add any more.
I've been doing this over and over. The same thing over and over.
Repetition. Repetition.
I need to let go.
I need to stop doing the same thing over and over.
I'm strong enough in my body and my mind.
I don't know how to move forward.
"No, you can do it! Stick with it!"
Repetition.
Same old same old.
Day after day, year after year, time after time
I keep getting stuck and the same place.
I am not afraid of anything but I am afraid of this.
I have not been able to move past this point.
It's too heavy.
I don't think I can do it.
Dear God, give me the strength to love.

NAU's IHD: Making the World a Better Place

We are blessed to have been invited help The Institute of Human Development (IHD) with their latest round of campaign stories.  Please feel free to view the articles at the link below.

IHD: Community News Notes

Always Leave Them Wanting More...

If you understand this basic law of Economics, you can apply it to every area of your life.  

You, as reader, probably learned more from this post by looking at the picture and the sentence than you would have if I took 1000 words to explain the same thing.   

Always leave them wanting more, not less.