I will never forget what he taught me.

An orange and white tabby cat showed up at the front door of my apartment in the fall of 1997. I had never owned a cat before, but this one instantly charmed me. He had such a friendly and easygoing manner. He wasn’t shy either. He walked right into my apartment and my heart.

I figured that he must belong to someone in the apartment complex. He was too friendly to be stray or feral. I let him inside and he started spending the night sleeping beside me in my bed. In the mornings I would let him out to make his rounds. …

At least that’s what they say

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. If you are a person of faith, you may wonder where God is this year. Why are these terrible things happening? I have thought about that all year.

Perhaps the better question is, where are we? Why don’t we step up?

I wrote this song with those thoughts in mind.

Faith Is Like a River

Verse 1
Faith is like a river
At least that’s what they say
Jump into the flow of God
Let Him direct your way
But faith is hard to come by
Living in this world
Seeing all the pain and grief
And wondering where God is

Chorus
But God is in the little things
God’s within His people
He’s in the laughter of a child
In the comfort of a friend
In the mountain’s majesty
And the crash of ocean waves
And if we listen to His voice
We can be faith in this world. …

If you always walk in the light, you never get the chance to shine.

Do you feel it?

The loneliness.
The despair.
The frustration.
The anger.

2020 has been a year.

I’ve felt all the above emotions and more.

Why is this happening?
When will it be over?
How much more can I bear?

Honestly? Not much more.

As I gazed into the night sky’s brilliance last night, I realized something.

Walking in the light is easy. There are few challenges, so it is natural to be thankful.

When times are good, we forget to be grateful. We take the little things for granted. But not this year.

This year, we would give anything just to see loved ones and hug them. …

From an unlikely source.

You can find inspiration in the most unlikely places. I admire these seven profound statements from Dr. Seuss. If you take them to heart, you will learn to love yourself more. I did.

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

We spend so much time trying to fit in and gain acceptance. Social media amplifies our feelings of inadequacy, causing us to base our worth on the number of “likes” we receive.

You are an original. Be proud of who you are. You don’t have to fit in.

“Be who you are and say what you feel because the ones who mind don’t matter, and the ones who matter don’t mind.” …

It never did.

My word for the year was “Bloom”.

I made a big deal about it, creating an intentional vision board with pictures and theme words. I pulled out all the stops.

Then 2020 became — well — 2020.

Here are some words from my vision board.

• Community
• Healthy
• Prosper
• Give

They seem like a cruel joke now.

Sorry to tell you this, but The Law of Attraction doesn’t work.

I’m not even sure that positivity attracts positivity. Judging by the hatred spewed on social media, I would say not.

It pays to be grateful. Most of us have much to be thankful for. I know I do. Gratitude makes us happier with the life that we currently have. …

#7 is absolutely critical

I know you are eager to get the scoop on Medium. You want to be successful and make money. Allow me to share what I’ve learned in my short time on Medium so far.

Here are 8 tips to help you succeed as a writer on Medium.

1. Write about Medium. This is the chief topic that everyone wants to read. Write about stats, how much money you’ve made, and how to get curated. This will garner you the most views and reads. These stories won’t get curated, but who cares? They will get lots of reads and reads equal money.
2. Give writing tips. This is the second most popular topic on Medium. Teach readers how to become better writers and direct them to other sites where they can also make money writing. …

Why can’t I delete the comment?

I received my first troll comment this morning on Medium.

People suck. And the internet allows them to suck even more.

The comment was a profanity-laced tirade telling me to get off Medium. What controversial story made someone so angry?

A story about my beloved cat that died.

I reported the comment and blocked the “user”. So, why can’t I delete the comment? I hid it, but it’s still there.

If we don’t have the control to delete comments on our own page, perhaps I need to find another writing platform. This is unacceptable.

It’s bad enough to deal with trolls. I don’t want their trash on my stories.

Medium needs to fix this.

I choose to forgive — for me.

I spent time with a bitter person yesterday. She complained about everything and everyone. She has a remarkable amount to be grateful for in life, yet she could only say, “I grew up with nothing and I still have nothing.”

Nothing?

She has a home, car, food, health insurance, and money to buy anything within reason that she needs. I would say that she is richer than a significant portion of the world.

But she is still unhappy.

As we talked, she criticized various people that we both know. In her eyes, all of them had slighted her and it was clear she hadn’t moved on. She called them all “low-class people”. …