LIVE. LAUGH. LOVE.

This is not our cat

1,568 views | Posted by A friend on February 3, 2020

This is not our cat. We installed a cat door in our shed. Our new neighbors rarely let their cat in even when it is freezing cold outside. We've spoken to them twice, nicely, and they are not concerned. So we are helping our cat bro out by giving him access to our...

Don't worry about what you'll be doing in 20 years, worry about how to make tomorrow a better day than today

1,235 views | Posted by A friend on February 14, 2020

There's a saying that really stuck with me from a random monk who lived 900 years ago: When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I...

A Deer In The Road

1,206 views | Posted by Joseph J. Mazzella on February 2, 2020

I live in the mountains of West Virginia. The curvy, winding roads and the vast woodlands often lead to near misses with the local deer. The other day I was driving my son to work at the sheltered workshop when we saw a deer in the road that hadn’t been so lucky. The driver in front of me suddenly swerved to avoid hitting the corpse...

Another Day

1,035 views | Posted by Joseph J. Mazzella on February 7, 2020

It was a cold, Winter morning. I hadn’t slept very well the night before so I was trying to catch a few extra winks before I got up. The rising sun had other ideas, however. A beam of it snuck through my drawn curtains and started poking my eyelids until they wearily opened. I groaned and sat up on the side of the bed. I put my feet on...

Bravery in the Eye of the Storm

1,001 views | Posted by Jonie Stumbo on February 10, 2020

Well today it happened… A day we never want to happen, but continually prepare for throughout the school year. We had a tornado touch down near the school, and as expected, went into our emergency tornado procedures. I wasn’t even in the classroom when it happened. I had taken a student with me to the workroom to help gather...

This Is Life!

772 views | Posted by Anjali Mohapatra on February 20, 2020

Once, a middle aged man took his eighty years old father to the park. His father used a stick for walking. While the old man stepped out from the car, his stick fell down, and he lost his balance. But, immediately before falling, his son gripped his hand tightly, and saved him. The old man smiled at his son gratefully. The son...

A Big Long Hug

711 views | Posted by Yudysseus on February 18, 2020

One of my favorite moments in life happened last year. My boss and I were at this convention/fair for people with developmental disabilities to recruit parents of kids on the spectrum to participate in a study. My boss is talking to this lovely couple, I approach them and stand nearby as they’re speaking. The...

Freedom

583 views | Posted by Gayathri.M on February 10, 2020

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high...into that heaven of freedom my Father, let my country awake", as this famous quote of Rabindranath Tagore ran through her head, her mind stopped at the word "Freedom". That one precious word for which she had so longed for all her life. As the raindrops...

Faith in humanity restored after an unfortunate accident

576 views | Posted by A friend on February 22, 2020

I’m going through it right now. Last night one of our 3 family dogs was hit and killed by a car in front of my mother’s house. The dogs became, more or less, my mother’s surrogate children after her human children grew up and moved out and my father ran with a midlife crisis and left her. The one that was killed had bonded...

Don't Cling to a Mistake Just Because You Spent a lot of Time Making it

272 views | Posted by A friend on February 26, 2020

There are many times we do this in our lives, even if its at an unconsciousness level. For example, a friend of my was deeply conflicted over religion and going to church. It just didn't resonate with him. He didnt feel any spiritual growth from committing to his religion, but he did so because he grew up with that and his...

Kindness Of Strangers

172 views | Posted by A friend on February 27, 2020

I broke my elbow last year and for a good few months I couldn't move my arm at all. I still can't move it properly. However until I got some decent slip on shoes I occasionally had to ask random people to retie my laces. I never had anyone turn me down. It really reinforced my faith in humanity. At one stage...

I'm an old married dude, and I'm getting adopted

69 views | Posted by A friend on February 28, 2020

My dad is the only "dad" I have known for my entire life. He and my mom got married when I was 1, and as such I even have his last name. Things were easier in the past (especially in a small town), so all my ID, bills, legal documents, even my social security and DD214 have his last name. He taught me to hunt, fish,...