Category: Interesting information

A Voice In The Night

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voice audiobook

Reading bedtime stories to my children was a favorite part of each day for me. I read aloud to both Laura and Tim long past the age when they could read for themselves. I wish I could remember the last book I read to each of them. It was a momentous occasion after all, but like many such moments, we can’t intuit ahead of time when the last occurrence will be.

I love to be read stories aloud as well, especially at night when I’m snuggled into bed waiting for sleep. But it’s not my husband’s voice I’m listening to but rather that of a professional narrator.

I began my career of listening to “books on tape” around the age of 50 via a portable cassette player stuck in a pocket or attached to a belt. The libraries I frequented had a seemingly endless supply of interesting fiction on cassette. When compact discs (CDs) replaced cassettes, the libraries stepped up to meet my needs.

When my last Sony CD Walkman stopped working, Laura convinced me to go digital. But instead of paying for Kindle or Audible, the library once again saved the day with their free Overdrive app where you download a recorded book to your smartphone and start listening. Yes, it’s that easy.

I have commented more than once that I can listen to a mediocre story read by an excellent narrator but don’t ask me to listen to a bestseller read by a mediocre narrator.

One of my all-time favorite narrators is Frank Muller. The company Recorded Books is the largest independent producer of audiobooks in the world. When that company was founded in 1979, they hired Frank Muller as its first narrator to record The Sea Wolf by Jack London.  Frank went on to record over 200 books for a number of audiobook companies. He was the preferred narrator for such famous authors as Stephen King and John Grisham. A review by the Philadelphia Inquirer stated, “He has a voice and delivery that speak of distant, if darker places where life somehow takes on a greater significance…”

In November 2001, just hours after his wife shared the joyous news that she was expecting their second child, Frank was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Landing on his head on the concrete, his most debilitating injury was severe head trauma. He never really recovered, remaining hospitalized for over six years. He died on June 4, 2008.

Frank’s legendary voice evolved over the years. Starting out as a classically trained actor, he performed on stage, on some television shows, and in a few commercials. He remains most well-known for his voice.  His later narrations, such as the 1996 reading of The Green Mile by Stephen King or the 2000 reading of The Partner by John Grisham, showcase Frank at the peak of performance.

If I had to pick a favorite featuring Frank’s voice, it would be Folly written by Laurie R. King. Since the recorded book was released in 2001, it likely is among the last books that Frank narrated.

It is Frank Muller reading aloud that is the voice in the night that lulls me to sleep. Even if the story is interestingly scary, like Folly, his voice is so soothing that it relaxes me. Likewise, even if things don’t seem to be going right for the character, Frank’s way of telling the tale assures me that, don’t worry; eventually it will be OK.

What a legacy of listening he left us.

~~~~~

List of books narrated by Frank Muller

A sample of The Green Mile audio book

A sample of Folly audiobook on Amazon

 

What Are We So Sorry About?

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sorry

An opportunity appeared on Facebook to join a Zoom call featuring a speaker who sounded promising. I already had my day planned, working in my home with a part-time housekeeper to get a whole-house cleaning done. So I knew instead of joining the meeting “live” that I would substitute my photo as a place holder and mute the sounds of the busy work going on.

Be honest: When you’re cleaning the house, do you dress up? Fix your hair? Put on makeup? Because we’re friends I’ll share what I looked like:  a plastic headband kept the hair out of my face. I was wearing slippers, pocketless yoga shorts, a t-shirt, and my daughter’s old candy-striper apron to carry my phone around with me so I could listen to a story while I cleaned.

A few days later I came across a story on Vox that discussed how women respond to live Zoom calls. “I’m sorry” are the first two words out of many female mouths. What are they apologizing for, you ask? Their wrinkles, their double-chins, lack of make-up, roots showing, etc, etc, etc. In other words, nit-picking their physical appearances to the point of ad nauseam.

We all want to look good; I get that. I don’t know anyone who purposely sets out to look bad when they’re going to be seen by others. And yes, I’ve taken training on ways to enhance how one comes across on a Zoom screen that I use when I’m teaching classes because I don’t want any distractions to get in the way of my message.

But no apologizing. In fact, a couple of weeks ago in a Zoom session on body language, I reached the point of how important it is to smile with your eyes. A real smile isn’t just with your mouth; the mouth and the eyes should work together automatically.  So I leaned into the camera and showed the class the crow’s feet around my eyes. “This,” I said while tapping at the corner of my eyes, “is the reward for a lifetime of smiling. And I’m quite proud of them.”

So for your next Zoom call, spruce up as much as you want, slap on some lipstick, ladies, if that improves your mood, and don’t apologize for anything. But if you’re wearing a candy-striper apron, you might want to remove that.

~~~~~~

I wrote on a similar topic in Feb 2018. You can read that here.

VOX article

A man’s view of his own over-apologizing

The story behind a true smile

 

 

1966 Summer Vacation, Part 2

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1960s nurses

What WERE my parents thinking? I was just shy of 16 and so naïve and innocent that anything could have happened to me. But they blithely put me on a train by myself in Johnstown, PA, bound for Chicago for a vacation with my sister. (See post from May 16.) That was a scary 12+ hour train ride.

The trip was supposed to have been my first flight in an airplane, but starting July 8, 1966, the five major airlines were shut down by an International Association of Machinists Union strike which lasted 43 days.

Fortunately, I arrived unscathed, only to find that Chicago was in the grip of civil rights riots on the west side of the city. Starting July 11, fires and looting prevailed until finally the National Guard was called in.

And then on July 14 as my sister was getting ready for her last day of work before our vacation began, the early morning radio news was blasting a horrifying story: During the night of July 13, a 24-year-old man named Richard Speck had gained access to a housing unit for student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital and murdered eight of them.

He controlled the six young women already in the apartment with the use of a knife. One by one, he tied them up. When three more girls came home later, he was able to subdue and bind them as well.

Over the course of about four hours, Speck took the girls, all in their early 20s, individually to different areas of the apartment and killed them. The girls were either beaten or strangled. One was raped before being murdered.

Corazon Amurao, a petite 5’2” nursing student, managed to roll her bound body under a bed while Speck was out of the bedroom killing one of her friends. He must have lost count of the total number because he did not look for a missing girl.

When he eventually left, Corazon freed herself and crawled to a second-story ledge and began screaming for help.

Within two days Speck had been located and arrested. His prominent tattoo Born to Raise Hell was one of the markers that aided in his quick capture. At the trial Corazon positively identified Speck as the murderer; that testimony plus his fingerprints found at the scene led to a slam-dunk conviction.

Richard Speck died in prison at the age of 49; he suffered a heart attack. Throughout the years, he offered up no remorse for his killings.

I remember my 16-year-old self being terrified the entire day of July 14 as I waited alone in my sister’s apartment. I knew one thing for sure; I would not answer the door for anyone.

When as a teen I thought about those young student nurses, I never questioned WHY they would be so gullible, so passive, so willing to just let that man take complete control. It was because I had been raised the same way. “Anything to keep the peace.”

I would hope that if (God forbid) a similar situation would occur now, a group of girls or young women or even old women would ferociously fight back and overpower the evil among them. You can count on me to do just that.

This story is dedicated to the memory of those slain nursing students:

Nina Jo Schmale  /  Patricia Ann Matusek  /  Pamela Lee Wilkening  / Mary Ann Jordan  / Suzanne Bridget Farris  /  Valentina Pasion  /  Merlita Gargullo  /  Gloria Jean Davy

~~~~~~~

Interesting article based on information from the brother of Nina Jo Schmale

 

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, 1966

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summer vacation

The summer of 1966 I was nearly 16. My sister Barbara gave me the gift of a vacation that was an amazingly big deal to me; I had never been on a real vacation.

Our family of eight (six kids within a twelve-year span) from a small PA town didn’t have the money for vacations.

In fact, the first time I left the state was when I was ten and made a road trip with my grandmother, great-aunt and uncle to visit relatives in Michigan. That trip consisted mostly of staying at my aunt’s home, eating, talking, and playing with my cousin. I do recall being mesmerized by all the traffic AND it was the first time I had pizza. (But not the last!)

Although the Mary Tyler Moore show would not air until 1970, her Mary Richards character is how I pictured my sister Barbara: the small-town girl who leaves for the big city (Chicago) to become a successful career girl. And (at least as compared to our family) I imagined her to be rich. She had her OWN car and her OWN apartment after all! Of course, I was naïve. Barbara was just 23, and I had no idea of the high cost of living in Des Plaines, a suburb of Chicago.

So what I didn’t know until just a few years ago was that my sister borrowed the money to take me on a proper vacation. There was a bank on the first floor of the Chicago building where she worked for the Service Bureau Corporation, then a division of IBM.

She applied for a $300 loan at that bank. While that may not seem like much, $300 in 1966 would translate to approximately $2400 in today’s dollars. The loan officer asked Barbara what she intended to use as collateral. After he explained what “collateral” meant, she gave him a blank stare.

He prompted, “Do you own a car?” When she provided the car’s information, he looked skeptical. “Where do you work?” was his next question. She responded, “Upstairs in this building.” Barbara assumes now that having a borrower who worked for IBM in the bank’s building would be a satisfactory risk; she got the loan.

While I don’t recall all of the details from that long-ago vacation, two portions stand out. One frightening but exhilarating experience was a ride in a helicopter from O’Hare Airport. The second was our stay in Baraboo, WI, about 4 hours from Chicago. From there we took a short drive to Wisconsin Dells where we attended the Tommy Bartlett Water Show (founded in 1952 and still going strong!). Think Cirque du Soleil on water skis and speed boats.

This vacation opened my eyes from a limited world view to a world full of possibilities and for that I remain thankful.

PS – Stay tuned for next Friday’s post that relates to the horrific goings-on in Illinois during the time that this trip took place.

Thinking Outside The Box

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Thinking Outside The Box

A few years before she died, my mother-in-law Rosalie was appalled by the birthday card her son Bill bought for my special day. When Rosalie did the choosing, the card usually depicted flowers and professed loving words.

Bill’s card, on the other hand, portrayed an office conference room. A cat’s litter box sat in the center of the long table with spilled litter all around. The “people” standing around the conference table were dressed in business attire but had cat heads instead of human ones. The card posed the question, “All right. Who’s been thinking outside the box again?”

Go ahead and laugh since I did then and still do when I remember it.

Surely everyone in the world has heard the phrase think outside the box. It has been used so often that it’s become a cliché. It’s intended to encourage us to discard our usual way of looking at problems and come up with new ideas, to disregard the obvious and look further for answers.

Like most things, there is some dispute about who “invented” the phrase.

One source says it developed from the publication Aviation Week & Space Technology, July 1975 when a writer said, “We must step back and see if the solutions to our problems lie outside the box.”

Some credit James Adams, emeritus professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford, for making the phrase popular. His book (originally published in 1974) Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas is now in its fifth edition. In that book he presents a visual puzzle depicting nine dots, three dots in three rows lined up. The puzzle is to connect all nine dots with four straight lines (or fewer) without having the pencil leave the paper and without retracing your route.

If you’ve not seen this puzzle before, go ahead and try to solve it and then come back here. One standard solution and some others are noted in a link below. Yes, there are multiple correct answers!

Many fail at this because we make up a rule that was NOT in the original direction. The made-up rule is this: There is an imaginary box around the dots and we believe we cannot move beyond that square. It’s only in the disregard of that imaginary box that the puzzle can be solved.

And isn’t that just like real life? I know that I’ve not put to good use all of my talents because I’ve imposed an imaginary box around what I believe I can do. I’ve missed taking some important chances because I didn’t think I could dare step outside the confinement of what my belief system said about myself.

I like James Adams’ response to people who ask him just how does one think outside the box?

He simply asks them a question in response:  “What box?”

~~~~~

Solution to the nine dots puzzle and some other fun info!

Knowing or Knowing and Doing?

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Knowing or Knowing and Doing

You may have seen some of the free online educational offerings during this COVID-19 pandemic. If not, I’ve given you plenty to review in the links below!

I started one on Coursera that was dubbed the most popular online course at Yale: The Science of Well-Being. Happiness is a fascinating topic to me. My interest was fueled by a class I took a few years ago called The Happiness Advantage. If you watch nothing else, view founder Shawn Achor’s TED talk. He is a masterful storyteller.

While I ended up choosing to stop the Well-Being course after just one class (Professor Laurie Santos drove me crazy with her overuse of the non-word “kinda.”), Santos made a valuable point. She refers to it as the GI Joe fallacy.

The cartoon show GI Joe ran in the mid-1980s. I have fond memories of my son Tim watching its reruns. The end of each show featured a short PSA (public service announcement) for kids such as not getting into cars with strangers and being fair.  The closing in each PSA has the kid saying, “And now I know.” And the hero’s response was, “And knowing is half the battle.”

As a cognitive scientist, Santos believes this old adage needs to be retired since knowing something is not enough to change behavior. Apologies to any smokers reading this, because smoking is a wonderful example. It was 1964 when then Surgeon General Luther Terry released the report that first exposed the dangerous health effects of smoking.

It’s been over 50 years that we’ve known (and continue to know more) that smoking cigarettes is extremely hazardous to our health. But a CDC 2018 report showed that nearly 14% of US adults over 18 are still smoking cigarettes. What, those 34 million people have no idea that smoking is terrible for them? Highly unlikely. It’s just that knowing is not enough to change their behavior.

I love learning. I am an advocate for lifelong learning. And yet you and I and everyone reading this likely has some valuable knowledge inside us that is stagnating due to our inaction. This “down time” of isolation might be a good opportunity for us to ponder what that knowledge is and develop a plan to put it into action. Or we can gain new knowledge in something we’ve always wanted to learn and move that into an action plan.

A favorite quote of mine by Christian author Lysa TerKeurst is this:

“Inspiration and information without personal application will never amount to transformation.”

In the end, what we have done with what we know matters so much more than just the knowing.

~~~~~

Shawn Achor’s TED talk, less than 15 minutes. WATCH IT, please!!

Parade’s March 24 link to 28 free courses (NOTE: Some may have expired by now.)

Class Central offers “free online courses from top universities around the world like MIT, Stanford, and Harvard.”

Free college classes from edx

Free classes from Coursera

NPR’s list of free viewings from Broadway plays to Gold’s Gym workouts

GI Joe original PSAs

Mind Over Body OR Body Over Mind?

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Mind over bodyFor many years I have found the subject of the mind/body connection fascinating. One of the original books on the topic that hooked me goes back to 1987. Minding the Body, Mending the Mind by Dr. Joan Borysenko is still applicable all these years later. In fact, I include the book as suggested reading to my public speaking students.

So I was thrilled to find in a new book I’m currently reading (Successful Aging by Dr. Daniel Levitin) that the author has a strong focus on the mind/body connection as it relates to aging well. Dr. Levitin (62) is a neuroscientist and cognitive psychologist. I appreciate that instead of relying simply on his own work and own opinions for the book, he reviewed around four thousand peer-reviewed scientific papers.

One phrase that popped out at me in the section on exercise is embodied cognition. Basically our brains thrive on our body’s physical movement. Our memory, problem-solving skills, planning abilities, creativity, and thinking are enhanced by physical activity.

Note that “physical activity” doesn’t necessarily mean becoming a gym rat or taking up running. (Unless those activities bring you joy. Or unless you’re Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins who took up competitive athletics at age 75 and then at age 100 moved on to running. At 101 she won the hundred-yard dash in the National Senior Games.)

Physical activity can be as simple as moving around, interacting with the environment.

Dr. Levitin says the true meaning of embodied cognition came as an epiphany to him when he went for a walk in the Quebec countryside with two 70-ish friends. The path was a dirt trail through the woods. They meandered over tree roots, rocks, and fallen branches. They had to negotiate around young children running along the path as well as duck those pesky low-hanging branches.

It struck him that he had to carefully watch where he walked, making sure that foot placement was just so. Compared to walking on a treadmill or strolling on a nicely paved sidewalk (both beneficial movement), walking outdoors, he believes, is the best physical activity to keep the brain active and flexible.

It turns out I had intuitively already made this part of my routine. While walking my dog Grace along a creek at a local park, we negotiate our way among humongous tree roots. Then we go off the path to mount the small hillside so Grace can sniff out the fence line adjacent to a cow pasture. We make our way through an uneven terrain of pine needles, pinecones, dead leaves, twigs, fallen tree limbs, and rocks on the park’s opposite side. For once I am ahead of the curve for health recommendations!

I think everyone over 60 and their adult children will benefit from reading Successful Aging. While the book (at 400 pages not counting the 74 pages of NOTES) can at times read a bit too much like a textbook, it’s thoughtfully written. It’s not a list of DO THIS / DON’T DO THIS bullet points, nor does Levitin try to shock readers with DO THIS OR ELSE! predictions.

Instead, the pages are filled with interesting science-based material and gentle nudges for readers to incorporate the key concepts into their daily lives in order to live a longer, healthier, and enriched life.

The book also provides the information our adult children need to understand this new stage of life we parents are living through, such as why we grow accustomed to things the way they are. For instance, the challenge of a new cell phone doesn’t arise because someone has turned 72 and suddenly grown stupid. It’s because of changes in the brain that make learning something new more difficult as well as make our fingers less dexterous.

This is a book that will bring a better understanding among our family members, and so it is well worth the 400-page read.

~~~~~

Interview clip of Dr. Levitin

A Life’s True Calling

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life's true calling

My friend Kimberlee Baer says her response is sometimes a conversation starter. At other times it can bring a conversation to a screeching halt.

The question: “What do you do for a living?” Her response: “I’m a licensed funeral director.”

Presently most funeral directors are male. The percentages vary depending on a) whether you’re looking at just the United States or the world, and b) whether the site combines funeral directors with morticians and/or undertakers.

The National Funeral Directors Association, whose members are from the US and 49 other countries, states that 16% of its membership is female. But in an article from NextAvenue.org titled “Why Your Funeral Director Will Likely Be Female,” the author tells us a strong shift is occurring. In the last few years, more women than men have enrolled in America’s 59 accredited mortuary science programs. And in 2016, 61 percent were female.

Kimberlee’s mom (a registered nurse) had encouraged her daughter to find her life’s calling in the medical field. As a science buff while in high school, Kimberlee thought that embalming was a fascinating topic. On senior career day, she chose to shadow a funeral director.

Earning a B.S. in biology, she spent two years in mortuary school and did a two-year residency in Chester, Virginia. Shortly after that, she responded to a funeral home’s ad of looking for an apprentice. She took that position and has been with the independent family-owned funeral home ever since.

Kimberlee has seen many changes over the years, and if we ourselves think about it, we can realize how end of life services have evolved. They used to be somber events, no photos or videos, with just sad music.

Now “celebration of life” services often replace a funeral. There are photos and videos showing the person when he or she was enjoying life. Playlists enable us to hear the person’s favorite music. Often people will include warm or funny stories in their eulogies. People attending the reception share favorite moments of the deceased and laugh as they remember the best times, the most poignant times, of the person’s life.

When I asked Kimberlee to share the most unusual service she had directed, she didn’t pause. This particular man had loved being on his sailboat. His life had basically revolved around sailing so he had left specific instructions for his celebration of life service. Palm trees with tiny lights and antique rum bottles decorated the room. A band played Jimmy Buffet music. Guests were requested to wear shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops. Apparently, it was quite the send-off and everyone agreed that the deceased would have thoroughly enjoyed it.

As for the most difficult moments she faces in her role, she named three. The first instance she referred to is a sudden tragic death such as from an accident; the person was here one moment and the next they were dead. Family and friends are in shock and are sometimes barely able to focus.

A second has to do with her location in a small town; often the deceased is someone she knows and/or she knows their family. The personal connection makes it much harder.

And then, coming as no surprise, is the death of a child. Regardless of how old that child is, comforting a bereaved parent is the most difficult aspect of her work. Kimberlee shared the story of a baby who had died of SIDS. The mom had come in to plan the service and the two of them were still standing when the mom just collapsed into her arms. Kimberlee lowered them both to the floor where they stayed while the mom cried and they talked. Together they got through the planning of the service.

Kimberlee feels it is her life’s purpose to be with those who are facing the finality of death. She is able to remain calm, yet loving and compassionate, with those who need her. While seeing so many different sides of grief (anger, denial, heartbreak), Kimberlee has the ability to gently guide people through their most difficult time.

The two of us are new friends who were brought together on a Facebook community page. But that’s a story I’ll tell another time. For now, I’ll simply say that the world is a better place because of her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Next Avenue article

My Snobbiest Post Ever

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Four Hundred

I accidentally realized today that this is my 400th post. This is meaningful to me…that I’ve stuck with writing for my tribe even on those days when I didn’t feel like writing. Thank you to all my readers who subscribe or who like my LiftedUp.us page on Facebook.

Just for fun, I Googled “four hundred” to see if anything interesting would come up and it did. Dictionary.com identifies the phrase “four hundred” as the exclusive social set of a city or area, and further states that words relating to “four hundred” are aristocracy, elite, society, gentry, cream, privileged, gentility, and nobility.

Maybe many of you already knew this, but I did not. It seems that the “four hundred” phrase came about back in the late 1800s. Some believe the phrase was launched because 400 was the capacity of the ballroom in Caroline Schermerhorn Astor’s mansion. Another popular belief is that Caroline Astor’s large party in 1892 featured nearly 400 guests made up of New York’s high society names.

So it makes sense that in 2007 a New York company used the name Four Hundred to create (in their very own words) “an invitation-only lifestyle management firm that opens doors of exclusivity for our clients.”

Now if you’re like me, when you read that description you felt as though you’ve just been disdainfully found wanting. I was nervous about looking at their online site, figuring that my screen would black out and in stern white font would appear the message YOU ARE NOT FINANCIALLY, SOCIALLY, OR EDUCATIONALLY WORTHY TO VIEW OUR SITE. GO AWAY.

And then I checked out their Facebook page. Their CEO and founder Tony Abrams had posted this. I am not making this up; I copied and pasted his exact words, leaving his coarse language, incorrect spelling and punctuation intact.

“Four Hundred is seeking talented and passionate indiv…BLAH…BLAH…BLAH! We are looking for people who GET SHIT DONE and MAKE SHIT HAPPEN! Do YOU?! If so, please send resume’ and cover letter to info@nullfourhundred.com. PS- If you ask me for “more information”, please don’t bother applying but rather share this post with someone who just get’s it!”

I am so very tempted to send him a resume that consists of two columns: Shit I got done / Shit I made happen. You know…just to see what happens. Because he sounds like such a nice guy to have as a boss.

So my four hundred is nothing like their four hundred. Everyone is welcome on this site (except spammers, of course). You don’t have to think like me or act like me or believe like me. All I ask is that you enjoy two activities: reading and coming along for a ride of ideas.

~~~~~

Article on the Astor party of 1892

My site

 

Who Knows What’s Next?

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what's next

My mother-in-law Rosalie often quipped an adage up to the week before she died at the age of 100: “Old age isn’t for sissies.”

QuoteInvestigator.com says that the phrase first appeared in the Reader’s Digest April 1968 magazine, having been submitted to their “Life in the United States” section by a Ruth Hain from California. Ruth’s story was that her group of elderly friends had been sitting around complaining of various aches and pains and the maladies associated with aging. Until finally one friend said, “Well, it just proves one thing; old age sure ain’t for sissies.”

As we age we hear more about decline, both physical and mental. Maybe we clicked on one social media article about aging and the algorithms kicked in, gleefully filling our news feeds and inboxes with notices about the hazards of getting on in years.

Many of them scare us because we don’t want to be THAT person who ends up with Alzheimer’s, or THAT person confined to a bed or a wheelchair, or THAT person who has been forgotten and is living in isolation.

The older we get, the more frightening the concept of not being the same version of ourselves becomes.

Next month I will cross the calendar date when I will officially be closer to 70 than 69.

May I just say that feels impossible?

For the past ten years I haven’t minded sharing that I’m in my 60s. I had a blast at my 50th high school reunion in 2018, reminiscing with all the other 68-year-olds. Keeping active in all the ways that it counts (spiritually, mentally, physically, socially), I haven’t felt my age. I don’t feel old.

So I’m not certain why the idea of becoming 70 in the fall feels like a dramatic turning point.

The “aging” site that most frequently pops up in my email feed is called NextAvenue.org. Their tagline is “where grown-ups keep growing,” and their menu tabs are: Health / Money and Policy / Work and Purpose / Living / Caregiving / Technology.

Unlike many of the “you’re-getting-old-and-you-need-to-be-afraid-of-what’s-coming-next” sites, articles, and stories, Next Avenue offers encouragement, insight, inspirational stories, and advice to those in their midlife season.

I like it because it’s not one of those preachy sites that makes it seem as though there is just one right way to live your older life. And actually, it parallels my teaching and writing methods: offering up new information in a positive way for readers to consider and then ponder how they might find ways of incorporating the ideas to improve their own lives.

I’ve included a link below so you can check out their site.

So for now, this is your 69 years, four months, and 22 days old blogger signing off.

~~~~~

QuoteInvestigator.com

Next Avenue