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My mom passed away in January of last year and I miss her every single day. While cleaning out her home, I came across a basket full of notebooks filled with her writing. I knew my mom journaled, but I had no idea how prolific she was. In the notebooks, I found writing about her childhood, writing about her family and friends, love letters to my dad, advice for her grandchildren, some poetry, detailed flower and vegetable gardening instructions and tips, and even a story for children! Funny, I thought I was the first writer in the family. I wonder if my mom had dreams of being published like I did. I wish I could ask her.

For the last few months, I’ve been reading through my mom’s notebooks. There are so many memories packed away in them that some days I could only read a little of her writing before I became emotional and had to stop. In one of the notebooks, she wrote about the death of her older sister, Fay, at age four from pneumonia she developed after having scarlet fever. Mom wrote that it was right before penicillin was widely used. If Fay had become sick just a year or two later, she might have lived.

Reading what she wrote broke my heart, but the writing is so compelling that I thought I would share it with you. My mom is my guest blogger this week and I hope somewhere, somehow, she knows she is a published writer! I hope this story touches you as much as it did me.

Medicine in 1941

By June Barrett Bolinger

When I was young, doctors made house calls when people were sick. If a family member had a contagious disease such as measles, mumps, scarlet fever, etc., the household was quarantined. A very prominent sign would be placed on the front door so nobody from outside would enter.

The father was allowed to go to work, and children could play outside but only in their own yards and only if they weren’t the ones who were sick.  Penicillin had been invented in 1928 but was not in use in the United States until 1942. I remember the drug “Sulfur” being used quite often before Penicillin was available.

In later years, I heard that Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, had pneumonia around 1938 and agreed to try an experimental drug, Penicillin, which was highly effective, but in 1941, it was not in use in the United States. Had it been, my older sister, Fay, would probably have survived childhood.

My sister, Fay, was born in March of 1937 and was three and a half years old when I was born in October of 1940. In September of 1941 when I was 11 months old, my sister, Edith, my brother, Don, and my sister, Fay, all came down with scarlet fever, and our house was quarantined. My Grandmother Ritchie, my mother’s mother, came to the house to help care for us. After they all started recuperating, Fay had a relapse and developed pneumonia. Fay became very sick, and the doctor was at our house as she lie dying in my parents’ bed.

Norma Fay Barrett

As a last resort, the doctor decided a blood transfusion might save my sister, Fay, who was four and a half years old. With no testing or typing of blood, he gave her a transfusion from my mother, but it was the wrong blood type. If they had given her my father’s blood, she might have lived.

My mother told me that Fay went into convulsions almost immediately, then opened her eyes and said, “They’re coming, Mommy” and died.

A local funeral home embalmed her, which was a fairly new procedure, and prepared her for burial. My Uncle Paul Barrett took the backseat out of his car and drove her tiny casket from Indiana to Tennessee, where she had been born, for the funeral. My parents followed his car and their daughter’s body for 500 miles to Readyville, Tennessee. Her casket was taken to another uncle’s house, and Uncle Harmon and Aunt Ruby Barrett used their formal living room for the viewing, and the family all sat with the corpse day and night during the wake.

My father bought six lots at Riverside Cemetery and that became Fay’s final resting place. On her grave, they placed a heart-shaped pink marble monument with a little lamb resting on top. Below her name and the dates of her birth and death, it simply reads “Our Darling.” My mother was wracked with pain. My father collapsed at the gravesite, prostrate with grief. The land of her birth had opened to accept Fay’s tiny body.

Just one shot of penicillin in 1941 and I probably would have known the little girl, my sister, that I don’t remember but have heard about all my life.

There’s a lot of food insecurity in our country currently. With the government shut down dragging on and federal workers not getting paid as well as federal programs being shut down, many people are having to make difficult choices between food and other necessities. Even if they can buy food, they may not be able to afford balanced meals.

When I grew up, food was plentiful. One or both of my parents always had a good job, and they could afford to buy a variety of food for our family. Since my mom planted a garden every year and loved to cook, we had wonderful meals. We had lots of fresh vegetables in the summer months,  and the garden vegetables she canned or froze were eaten the rest of the year.

Mom loved to feed people her nutritious meals and she always made extra. If someone stopped by anywhere close to dinner time, she would invite them to eat with us and set another plate or two.  I know where she learned to do this. Whenever we would visit my grandma (my mom’s mom) she would greet us with hugs and then the first thing she would ask is, “Are you hungry?”

Nobody went hungry around my mom or my grandma, and I think I inherited the feeding people genes from them!

I hate the idea that people, especially children, don’t have enough to eat. I took several boxes full of food to a local food pantry this week. They give out many bags of food every Wednesday morning. I arrived just before 11:00 and the line of cars snaked through the parking lot. I asked the volunteer who helped me unload my donation if it had been that busy all morning. He shook his head and said, “We are seeing a lot more need right now.”

On social media, I’ve been seeing that other people are donating food and/or money to their local food pantries too. Some are giving to big food pantries like I did and others are putting food items in the little free pantries that are like the Little Free Libraries but have food instead of books. What a great concept!

People are doing good. They are helping in whatever ways they are able. And you can too! If you are interested in donating to your local food pantry, just do an internet search for food pantries near me.

So today is Halloween and I’m looking forward to giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters tonight. It’s so much fun to see all the costumes and excited faces! The front porch is all decked out and we have full-size candy bars and l will also give Halloween bookmarks along with the candy. I read an article this week that said Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the most popular Halloween candy to give and receive. The most popular non-chocolate candies are Skittles and Sour Patch Kids.

I also read recently about a viral trend of people passing out potatoes on Halloween. It started as a joke to see what kids would choose, candy or potatoes, and it was such a novel choice that kids started choosing the potatoes over candy from the candy bowls! What a funny new tradition for Halloween!

For the past month, I’ve been reading through the stack of notebooks I found at my mom’s house after she passed. I knew that she enjoyed writing but until I found her notebooks, I had no idea what a prolific writer she was.

In one of the notebooks I read this week, mom talked about what Halloween was like for her as a girl in the 1940’s and early 1950’s. She said that Halloween was a week-long event and kids could trick-or-treat every night of Halloween week. She wrote that some people gave out full-size candy bars which cost five cents each, but most people gave out apples, caramel apples and other homemade treats such as popcorn balls, nuts, fudge and cookies. She also said a few people gave their spare change to trick-or-treaters at Halloween.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make popcorn balls every year at Halloween. I’ll have to look through her recipes to see if that one is in there!

Like me, my mom loved making up her costumes from items they had at home. She said that most people would buy a half mask to wear that only covered their eyes and cost less than a dollar at the dime store. Children trick-or-treated by themselves, and she wrote that parents never went with them. If a house gave out treats that they really liked, the children would go back night after night. It was so interesting to read what Halloween was like for my mom and for other kids 75 years ago!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to read my book, “The Halloween Scare” for my grandson, Nolan’s preschool class. Those of you who read my blog regularly probably remember Nolan from my blog post, “Through the Eyes of a Grand Child”.

The children in the class were all dressed in orange and black and had already had their Halloween celebration by the time I arrived. I was to read for them at the end of their school day. As you can imagine, there was great excitement and energy in the room!

I remember how I felt as a kid the day before Halloween. Oh, the anticipation.

Before I began reading, I asked if they knew whose grandma I was and of course, they all knew. I read my book for them and on the last page, I showed them where illustrator, Vicki Killion Guess, had painted baby Nolan and his brother and sister into the picture in 2021. (Vicki also painted some of her grandchildren in that picture.)

After I finished reading, Nolan passed out the bookmarks for his classmates to take home, and they all told me what they were going to dress up as for Halloween. Most of the characters I knew but some were from current movies for kids that I haven’t seen. It was great fun to spend time with them, and I hope having his grandma read at his school will be a fun memory for my grand grandson.

I was leaving for my evening walk a bit later than usual last night and when I opened my door, it was dark outside and there was a car sitting in front of our house. I paused on the front porch and realized the passenger side car window was down and a young child was leaning out looking at our Halloween decorations. The dad in the driver’s seat yelled, “We don’t mean to disturb you; my son is obsessed with Halloween decorations, and he loves your spider web and inflatable spider!” I laughed and said, “That’s why we put them out because Halloween should be fun for kids.”

I love Halloween. No really, I LOVE Halloween and have for as long as I can remember. It’s so much fun to dress up and be someone (or something) else for a night. As a kid, I liked to create my own costumes out of things I found at home or at my grandma’s house.

I remember being a witch one year using an old ratty straw broom from my grandma’s farm. Other years, I dressed up as a hobo, a gypsy, a scarecrow, a ghost, and a hippie. My hippie costume had a homemade tie-dyed shirt, blue jeans, a bandana headband, a peace symbol necklace and a mood ring. It was so much fun to put the costumes together!

Today, it’s easy to find whatever costume you want on Amazon or in stores. But back in the day, it took a lot of creativity to put a costume together out of things you had at home. The best part of dressing up is that you then go out and collect candy while wearing your costume. What could be better than that?! Have I mentioned that I love candy too?

When my son, Ryan, was a young teenager, he would go trick-or-treating with a group of friends. One year, he decided to be a gorilla, and we were able to find a costume to fit his 6’ frame. Unbeknownst to Ryan, I gave the neighbors warning that a tall gorilla would be coming to their doors on Halloween night. They had fun having bananas at their door for him in addition to candy!

Ryan with part of his Halloween costume on

During the years that all my kids were at home, we had a huge (150-200 guests) family Halloween party every year and my entire family had so much fun getting ready for it. Some of my friends on social media will remember the parties because many of them were there every year. Costumes were encouraged but not required and people were so creative. We actually had the president and first lady show up one year! Of course, I always dressed up too! One year, our party was held during the World Series, so my husband and I dressed in uniforms from the opposing teams in the Series that year.

To plan the party each year, I would begin by consulting the Old Farmer’s Almanac to see if there was a date in October with a full moon to add to the ambience of the night. Once I had a good date, I would write and print the invitations in a spooky font on Halloween paper I found at an office supply store. Remember, this was in the days before Amazon!

Next, I would rent one of those big bouncy houses for the backyard and we would call it a Moon Jump. I hired local college kids to monitor the activity and to make sure we kept everyone safe. We played spooky music outside to add to the fun.

My husband and sons designed a haunted house in our garage every year and it was always a hit with the younger set and with some of the parents too. Our daughter’s playhouse would be transformed into a la-bor-a-tory with a skeleton on a table and jars of things like cooked spaghetti and peeled grapes and gummy worms. It was not gross or too scary, just fun.

I designed the party so that each room of the house offered something fun and different.

The dining room had a large table full of appetizers that had spooky labels. Crockpots might have mummy fingers (little sausages in barbecue sauce) or monster eyeballs (Swedish meatballs). A bowl of cashews might have been labeled as werewolf toenails, deviled eggs might be ogre eyes, cheese and crackers might be rat food, green grapes might be black cat eyes, breadsticks might be witch fingers, rice crispy treats might be skeleton bites…you get the picture.

In the kitchen there would be cookie decorating. I  would bake pumpkin shaped and bat shaped sugar cookies and have icing, colored sugar crystals, sprinkles and the works for decorating. Of course, this was a popular room!

In the family room, I would set up tables with fun make and take crafts for the kids to do. It might be something like ribbons to string with orange and black beads and a glow in the dark bat that they could wear when they were done.

A friend would dress up and tell fortunes in the fortune teller room…which was really my writing room. I found a fun crystal ball paperweight that made it seem even more realistic.

Liza Wolfe-dear friend and my kid’ preschool teacher

In the living room, we would take Polaroid pictures (remember Polaroids?) of anyone who wanted to be in the costume contest and then attach them to a board for voting. The living room also held a large cardboard coffin full of the party bags I made for each guest to take with them when they left the party. Of course, the bags contained Halloween candy and things like spider rings and vampire fangs.

A fun room to decorate was the bathroom, which would be the bat room complete with bats hanging all over the room.

Throughout the house, I would hang orange pumpkins with Halloween jokes on the front and the punchlines on the back. Usually we would have a guess how many pumpkin jar full of Tootsie Pops or bubble gum for a lucky winner to take home. Those parties were a lot of fun and work but sure makes some good memories all these years later.

Since I love Halloween,  it probably doesn’t surprise anyone that I wrote a Halloween book. I was actually writing my book, “The Christmas Church” in October of 2021. It was early one morning, and I was waiting on my coffee to be brewed and looking at the Halloween decorations I had out in my house. I’ve had most of them for 25-30 years so there are lots of memories attached. I began wondering what would scare all the spooky characters of Halloween and all of a sudden, I got the idea for the story of “The Halloween Scare.” Thank you to everyone who has ordered a copy this year!

One final note on Halloween. I read recently that most Americans eat their candy before Halloween night and have to go back to the store for more before the trick-or-treaters arrive. (This might have happened at my house already.) There was a survey done on behalf of CVS Pharmacy and one in four people surveyed confessed to having to restock their candy three times before Halloween night. When people in the survey were asked what made the Halloween tradition special, candy ranked first before costumes, the fall atmosphere and the spooky vibes. I knew it really was about the candy!

Yesterday, dozens of journalists from all the major TV networks as well as The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media organizations, turned in their press badges and walked out of the Pentagon after U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, laid out new press rules for reporting on the U.S. military and matters of our national defense. Journalists were given an afternoon deadline for signing the Pentagon’s new press policy, but they walked out before that deadline. Some of the  journalists had reported on the Pentagon for almost 20 years.

They declined to sign the new agreement because they felt it would restrict their ability to keep our nation and the world informed about issues of national security. Hegseth’s new policy requires journalists to only publish information that has been authorized for release by the Pentagon even if the information is declassified.

This sounds an awful lot like a country such as Russia where the Kremlin gives directives for what the media is allowed to report. Any report that contradicts the official government narrative is considered criminal and can get the media outlet shut down.

Do we want that kind of censorship and information control in this country? I think not.

My first writing experiences were journalistic ones. I wrote and edited my high school news magazine after taking the required journalism courses where I learned the importance of objectivity in reporting. Later in college, I wrote about campus happenings and current events for The Purdue Exponent. In recent years, I was a staff writer for Lifestyles of Denton County Magazine, a regional magazine based in Texas. When I graduated from high school, I wanted to be a journalist, but life took me in other directions.

Journalism has a core commitment to accuracy and objectivity. Journalists research, interview and fact check before they write their pieces. They seek the truth and report it. Their job is to report the facts objectively and to keep their personal opinions to themselves. Journalists report on what’s happening in the world and help people understand how the events might have an impact on their lives.

Think back to your high school civics lessons. Freedom of the press is one of the five fundamental freedoms given to citizens of our country by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The other four are:  freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to assemble peaceably, and the right to petition the government. We must pay attention anytime there is an attempt to take away one of our fundamental freedoms!

Until now, freedom of the press has been a protected right to publish information without government interference, censorship or punishment. This power allows journalists to gather and report information, it encourages public debate…or freedom of speech, and it also holds those in power accountable.

All five of these freedoms are essential for our democracy but in my opinion, freedom of the press is the most important. When journalists can no longer report factual news to the American people, we become an uninformed, powerless electorate.

Thank God we have American journalists who will not tolerate censorship by our government and by government representatives who are ignorant of the freedoms guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution.

As I ended the call, I sat on one end of my sofa stunned, not sure whether to laugh or cry. The call was from a buyer at a local gift shop. Five weeks ago, I had stopped to talk with him about carrying my books, “The Halloween Scare” and “The Christmas Church”. It was the first week of September and he asked if he could keep and read the two books.

About two weeks later, I called and checked in with him, and he said he hadn’t read my books yet, but he would. I called another week later and asked if he had made a decision regarding my books since we were now in prime buying season for “The Halloween Scare”. He said the store was already full of Halloween merchandise and it was kind of late for him to fit my books into the displays.

“Okay” I sighed. Do you still want to consider “The Christmas Church”? He said he would get back to me. Two more weeks went by, and I called but he wasn’t in. I left a message on his voicemail.

He called me back today. He said he had read “The Halloween Scare” and found it to be a charming book but it was too late to take it for Halloween this year. Ya think since it’s been five weeks? He hadn’t had time to read the 32 pages of “The Christmas Church” but one of his co-workers had read it and they said “it isn’t extraordinary.”

I wanted to shout into the phone, Are you kidding me!  Do you think the Hello Kitty Christmas book you have on display right now is extraordinary? But instead, I thanked him for his time and consideration. Before we hung up, he suggested I come into the store next July and talk with him again about my books. I don’t think so, buddy.

I wrote “The Christmas Church” during the heart of the pandemic when so many of us were losing loved ones to COVID-19. It’s a story about family and memories and those who have impacted our lives with their love whether they are still in our lives or have moved on…or even passed on. 

I remember the first time I read it for a room full of seniors at the retirement community in Texas where I used to work.  While I was reading, I knew the story was striking a chord because people were dabbing at their eyes with tissues. When I got to the end of the story and closed the book, three of the ladies in the room were sobbing loudly and a number of others were weeping quietly.

In December of 2022 at one of my stores in Texas, a woman bought a copy of “The Christmas Church”. She left the store then came back an hour later and bought 15 more copies. She told the shop owner she was going to give it to everyone for Christmas that year.

“The Christmas Church” has been my second-best selling book for the last four years.

I guess extraordinary is subjective.

A couple of the extraordinary hand painted water color illustrations by artist Vicki Killion Guess

Nothing is more difficult for an author than trying to sell and market books. Like most (all?) authors, I absolutely despise that part of the publishing process. I love the challenge of writing a story and creating a book that didn’t exist before. Selling books, not so much…but I will keep trying because I believe all of my books ARE extraordinary.

Here’s an excerpt from “The Christmas Church”:

Some people are with us for most of our lives. Others only stay in our lives for a short time. That doesn’t make them any less important to us. We must remember the ones who have shared our journey and be grateful for the time we had with them. The ones who loved and cared for us, and whose hands and hearts held us along the way. The people we love don’t leave us entirely. They leave something of themselves with us.  The key is to find a way to keep moving forward in life after they’re gone.

To purchase “The Christmas Church” on Amazon:https://amzn.to/47iqbuz

Or for a signed copy, order from this website.

I’m currently working on a new children’s book that I hope to publish next year. It’s for elementary school age children. I wrote the story several months ago and I’m very excited about it! Right now, I’m trying to figure out the title.

Before I decide on a title for a new book, I do searches to see if I’ve found a unique title. I learned the importance of doing this the hard way after I published “The Button Box” and found out there were already several books on the market with the same name.

For a while, I was afraid I had lost my ability to write because the words just would not come after the death of my mom almost two years ago. I think I just needed the time to grieve her loss properly before I could get back to writing.

I think there is often an ebb and a flow to life where we must take a pause from certain things before we are strong again and are ready to get back to them. Sometimes in life there is joy and sometimes there is sorrow. I’ve been in a season of sorrow but now I’m feeling joyful again and with that joy, comes writing.

This blog has helped me get back into a regular writing routine and I’m so grateful that the words are back bouncing around in my head. Thank you to all of you who have read and enjoyed my posts and especially to those of you who have commented on the different ones. Reading your comments fuels me.

So, back to the new book. I recently sent it to my son and daughter-in-law to read. They are experts because they read lots of books to their four children. My son said it’s one of my top two stories for children. (He really loves “The Halloween Scare” and so do I!) Every writer’s goal is to get better at their craft and perhaps I have.

If all goes well, I hope to publish this next book in the spring or early summer of 2026. I’m using my same team…Vicki Killion Guess is illustrating, and Crystal Wood is doing the book layout. They both live in Texas. All of us have taken some personal hits during the past two years…with deaths of loved ones as well as some medical issues. I’m grateful that they are both still willing to work with me now that I live across the country from them. I must say, it’s not as much fun to work on a book over the phone as it was to meet and work in person.

This new story involves animals and friendship. My daughter-in-law, Paige, and my granddaughter, Hallie, are the models for the mom and daughter illustrations in the story. Vicki’s daughter, Rachel, is the model for the friend. It’s fun to work directly with your illustrator and have family pictured in your books!

Vicki has completed most of the drawings and they are so charming. I cannot wait to see the painted illustrations! When I began this author journey 12 years ago, I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to publish more than one book. My last book, “Love Hearts” was published in 2023. I’m so excited for you to see what’s coming in 2026!

About a week ago, I wrote a Facebook post with a picture of the garden bench in my backyard with two large Chrysanthemums in full bloom on either side. I said I wished I could sit on the bench with my mom and have a nice long talk. Then, I asked my Facebook friends who they would like to sit and visit with on the bench.

I was so amazed by how many people responded. Almost everyone wanted to sit with someone who had passed away. Like me, many wished they could sit there and have another chat with their moms. Some wanted to sit with other passed away loved ones such as brothers or husbands.

Death often comes quickly and unexpectedly and can leave words left unspoken. The day before my mom died, I talked with her on the phone for about 30 minutes. And, we had the best talk that day. I’m so grateful for that.

I told her about her new great-granddaughter, Claire, who had just been born four days before. My mom was in such good spirits and so excited to hear about this wonderful new baby in our family. She wanted to know about Claire’s middle name and how big she was and the color of her hair and indeed all the things one asks about a new baby.

As we ended our call, she told me she loved me, and I told her I loved her. I said I would call again very soon. I didn’t know that she would die the next day. I certainly wasn’t ready to let her go. How could someone be so full of life and vibrant one minute and then be gone just 12 hours later?

This is my last photo with my mom at Christmas just one month before she died.

It’s so important to say the things you need to say to the people who matter to you while they are alive. I felt like I did that with both of my parents.

It’s been 19 years since my brother, Jeff, passed away unexpectedly after back surgery. He was just 41 years old, and I thought we both still had at least half a lifetime together as brother and sister. He died, and to this day I don’t know if he knew how much I loved him and admired him. We were both in the busy years with kids at home and we lived in different cities. I didn’t call him as much as I could have or should have because I thought I was too busy.

I graduated from college the same year Jeff graduated from high school!

I regret the things I never said and especially now that we are both grandparents, there are so many things I’d love to talk with him about.

Don’t miss the opportunity to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you now. Don’t be too busy. Tell them how important they are in your life and that you’re glad they’re your mom, dad, sister, brother, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, neighbor, friend…fill in the blank. Tell them you love them. It will strengthen your bond in the present and will give you peace later.

Author’s note: This is a book that helped me tremendously after the death of my brother.

In 1994, Amazon was founded as an online bookseller named Cadabra. In 1995, they launched their website and changed their name to Amazon. In 1999, Amazon began selling music and videos in addition to books. In 2000, Amazon opened their platform to third party sellers. Today, Amazon is America’s store, and we can find all the things online that we cannot find in brick-and-mortar stores. Like so many others, I love to shop on Amazon.

The problem is, Amazon has gotten greedy and forgotten their humble beginnings as a bookseller. Today, authors pay an annual fee to have their books listed on Amazon. And, unless you have published your book through Amazon’s publishing arm, KDP, self-published authors like me receive only 55% of the listing price of my books AND I pay shipping costs to stock the Amazon warehouse with my books. This means I make about $1.00 per book sold on Amazon after I pay my illustrator, my graphic designer, my printing costs, and of course the shipping to Amazon. I’ve never seen a rich self-published author.

So why even be on Amazon, you ask? Well, it’s now America’s store and they make it so incredibly easy to shop. Many authors feel it gives their books exposure and credibility to have them on Amazon.

This week, I removed two of my books from Amazon because they now allow other sellers to come in and sell an author’s books at other prices. Some of the re-sellers say the books are new and undercut my price. (They cannot be new because I’m the only one who orders the new books from the printer.) One of the re-sellers, is charging $31.04 for a used copy of “The Button Box” that I sell new for $19.95.  Another re-seller is selling my book, “The Halloween Scare”  for $16.24 on Amazon when my selling price is only $14.00. This re-seller is saying the copy is new.

I feel the re-sellers cheapen my product and create confusion among potential buyers. This picture may be difficult to see but it shows all the different buying options of my book, “The Button Box” on Amazon.

The other problem I have with what happens on Amazon is people (competitors? publishing companies?) leave low star reviews but don’t bother to write anything. Why does Amazon allow star reviews without anything being written?

If you truly want to help authors and booksellers…people who love writing and books…then buy your books from the author directly or from a locally owned bookstore. Most authors have a website or book selling events where you can purchase their books, and most local bookstores can order books for you if they aren’t already in stock.

In fact, buy local whenever you can and support small businesses and artists and authors like me. We aren’t millionaires or billionaires and we do a happy dance whenever we get a new order or make a sale!

I was still waiting on the coffee pot to finish dripping this morning when I noticed that I had voicemail on my phone. I hadn’t turned up the sound on my phone from the night yet, so I missed the call. I played the message and heard my friend, Rhonda, calling from Texas and singing “Good morning, good morning to you!” She then proceeded to tell me some happy news about an upcoming wedding of one of the residents of the independent retirement community I used to manage.

Rhonda is one of those people who make you feel good simply by being in her orbit. She is positive and kind and supportive and uplifting. She laughs a lot and her laughter is infectious. When I lived in Texas, my office was across the hall from hers for a couple of years. I would hear her coming down the hall singing and saying a kind word to everyone she passed. Sometimes both of our office doors would be open, and she would be singing a hymn. I loved it. Being across from her was like having a daily infusion of positivity.

This past week has been especially difficult for many of us, and I’ve personally been in a bit of a funk. With another tragic school shooting in Colorado and then the violent and unnecessary deaths of Iryna Zarutska in North Carolina and Charlie Kirk in Utah, it’s been difficult to feel positive about the direction of humanity. There’s so much anger and sadness going on in the world right now. Even our United States Congress was in an uproar this week. What ever happened to our congressional leadership having manners and a sense of decorum…but that’s a whole other blog post.

I was also disheartened to learn that someone destroyed the Little Free Library in my neighborhood that I just wrote about last week. Who destroys something so innocent that is for the common good?

So, how do we lift ourselves above it all and keep moving forward amid all this negative emotion and turmoil?

We do the best we can to do good and be better however we are able. We surround ourselves with people like Rhonda who feel like human sunshine. We do random or not so random acts of kindness. We practice gratitude. We focus on things that give us purpose and meaning. We practice mindfulness. We exercise. We listen to uplifting music. We pray. We spend time in nature. Perhaps we take a break from social media and from watching the news on TV.

And, if you would like to escape into a charming book about joy, try reading “The Alchemist”. This is a book I wasn’t aware of until my son, Ryan, gifted it to me a few years ago.

Joyful blessings for the week ahead!