Go to the Water

New Years Day is my favorite holiday. I love to put up a new calendar and embrace the new year. I realize for many it is just another day. But, not for me it is an opportunity for a whole year to do new, exciting, and good things. For some reason January 1 breathes new life into me, filling me up with hope and anticipation of a great year ahead. I am not sure if you are glad to see 2023 over, or if it was a year that you will look back on with fond memories.  I am going to describe 2023 as an interesting year. The weather displayed such craziness at times. In December we had October. In October we had December. In May we had July. In July we had July heat like none other. The one constant thing throughout every month was the wind! This picture was taken on Dec 7, 2023 This picture was taken Dec 8, 2023 2023 was the second year of retirement for me. I must admit there were days I would think, really this is it. There were other days when I felt blessed and I reminded myself of how w...

There are some words that I like, and my newest one is "Unstoppable". I think it is the perfect word as we face the new year. The moment you become unstoppable, greatness happens, so let's go into 2024 feeling that way.  I hope everyone reading this feels unstoppable, powerful in their own right. I have always described myself as tough. A tough person will push themselves when they don't feel like it. I realize I am not  physically tough, but I am better described as life tough.                                                              I read a long list of ways to help a person become unstoppable. I pulled the ones that had the most meaning to me. I have already written about most of them, so let's just look at this as an end of year recap.  1. Believe in yourself. I always think that if you can read you can do anyt...

So here it is Christmas Eve Day.    It is the day for the final Christmas inventory. Is Santa ready? Is the turkey thawing? Have I remembered everyone on my gift giving list? The "to do" list can be unbelievable for you today. Or you could be calm and just waiting for it to happen. Or you could be just happy you are one day closer for it to be over. Everyone has their own reaction to December 24. It is a fact, kids make Christmas. Being around them brings out the inner child in all of us. A child's anticipation for a visit from Santa is palpable. In true children's way of thinking, it is about self-gain. As is in life, some households have a mountain of toys at the end of the day. Other homes are more frugal and there is less. I love it when parents give the big toy and Santa gives a thoughtful one. Kids talk and it must be hard to understand why Santa was so generous in one home and not another. I heard a young mom say, "we don't buy them much, we focus more...

I feel we don't do enough self-reflection, or maybe, I don't do enough self-reflection. One thing for sure is that we certainly don't share our findings with others. I realize it is the busiest time of year, but I am challenging you to play along. Grab a piece of paper and write you age at the top. Write the same number of items as you age, of your accomplishments, or insights about yourself. I would never ask anyone to do something, I have not done. So here is my completed list to help you along.    "67" 1.  I love shiny and glitzy things. 2.  My Grandma Dixon taught me to knit. 3.  I f I get a chance to come back, I will come back as a party planner and decorator.  4.   I don't have any inside plants. I know people that love their plants, but I can't for the life of me make a connection with a plant. 5.  For 43 years I paid for my registration so I could work as a Registered Nurse. 6.   I am nervous/more scared of the dark.  ...

Oh, my goodness, once I started to write things under this title, it took on a life of its own. I realized I was starting to pay attention to little sayings, some I have never heard before, others are now my favorite. So here goes with a few of them! 1." You never learn anything from success" . There are many aspects of being successful, I am going to use business for my example. I believe successful businesspeople get up every day to make a dime. To them being successful means working every day to be more successful. It is the path to success where the lesson is learned. I think we can equate this to people that are handed a business as opposed to building a business. Not always, but we have seen it happen where a son/daughter take over a family business and it fails or as we like to say, "it is never the same". These people have grown up with privilege and haven't had to work in the business like their parents. They didn't realize the work that was involve...