Should I reply or is it best to not reply?

Before you even consider replying remember that it will be done in permanent ink. Once you send it you can never take it back. I don't know about you but before I hit that send button I read it a couple of times. Cyberspace is a complex place that everything you do there is stored in permanent ink. You will know that when your local grocery sends you an email saying all your favorites are on sale this week. Because every item on the list you do buy weekly. Means you can't even hide just how unhealthy you eat because they are watching you and they know everything.  If you look something up out of simple curiosity or boredom the next thing you know you get spammed by anything and everything realated to it. Your on a list sent out into cyberspace the second you open the hatch by clicking on it. You have to keep that in mind before you decide to jump out there.

Enjoy it when you can before you can't

Waiting until you can is the right thing to do. You just have to make sure that you do it when you can because you can. If you don't you might find out that one day you can't. For instance there are somethings you can only do at low tide and some things you can only do at high tide. Timing is everything, sometimes. What interest you one day can easily be forgotten about over time. As I watch my grandkids grow up so fast I am totally aware that I need to enjoy every moment of their childhood. Because when they grow up I know I won't see them very often to enjoy being with them. The older you get you truly enjoy your memories so you know how important it is to create as memories as you can whenever you can, while you can.

Halfway there doesn't necessarily mean you land in the middle

Starting to build a staircase then quitting halfway through it doesn't get you where you need to be. Either you have to finish it or you wasted your time. The same is true if you don't get that promotion that you worked so hard for. That doesn't mean that your hard work wasn't noticed and that your reward is soon coming. Well unless your reaction at the time is so negative that you are sure not going to get what you had deserved before you reacted. You can lose everything you earned if you don't keep going until you get to the finish line. Would you say you ran a 26 mile Marathon if you quit after 20 miles and never actually crossed the finish line? If you agree to meet someone in the middle will you do everything you said you would? Doing your part doesn't mean you can do only the part of it that you wanted to. Well I guess it can be your part but at least admit that you didn't meet in the middle. In the good old days they use to say, A man is only as good as his word. Nowadays they say, You can't believe a word you hear. If you say you are going to do something then do it simply because you said you would. Honestly the only way people can get along is to be honest with each other. An honest NO is better than giving them false hope that keeps them from looking somewhere else. In the good old days you could look at someone's face and know if they are lying. Nowadays they can lie straight to your face without twitching at all. Their eyes are so dark that you can't see even a glimpse of their soul. Holding people to their word may leave you stuck in the middle of a bridge that only got built halfway. The only good thing about that is you can turn around and look at it as you are halfway home. And going home is a lot easier than everything you had to do to meet halfway.

The reason may not be clear

The reason may be more complicated than you can put in words. Sometimes you are asked why yet there are many factors that are both fact and feelings. And how you feel may not be anything they can relate to. But how you feel may be the most important factor in your reason why. Sometimes it is just easier to say there simply is no way to explain why. Even if you can't explain it the fact is you alone decided and you alone know why. Not everything has an answer that anyone but you can understand.

Your opinion may be all that really matters but...

We all have our own opinions but respecting other people's opinions has to be an opinion we all have in common. Even though in the end we know we are going to do whatever in our opinion alone that we think is best for ourselves. We don't have to agree with their opinion by no means. All we have to do is agree that everyone has a right to have their own opinion. Agreeing to disagree with each other is all we have to do like we do daily with our family and friends. Which we have to do because we know that it's the only way to get along. Their opinion matters as much to them as your opinion matters to you. And who knows if by respecting each other you both might change your opinion enough to meet in the middle. 

Who would have thought that the card aisle could be so much fun?

We only visit the card aisle on a few special occasions through out the year. But when we do we have a fun little outing reading many of them before we find the right one. You smile and laugh and it  leaves you feeling relaxed and happy. You always find a perfect card to fit the person you are buying it for. This time I found a card that fit my message about JUST FLUSH IT perfectly. On the front it said "Relax and go find your happy place". When you opened it up, up popped a toilet as you heard the FLUSHING sound. It's as if I could have made that card. I look forward to the next holiday to have fun in the card aisle again. But nothing I will ever find will be as cool as the card someone made just for me. The best gift you could ever give someone isn't an expensive present they don't need and that you can't afford. It's a card that lets them know you were thinking about them when you got it.

When you realize it has been decades ago you know you are old

As you go through life you accumulate a lot of things that you buy along the way. At the time you get them you see a need for each and every one of them. But when you go through a cabinet and find things you bought decades ago you know you are old. Just the words decades ago sounds ancient. I remember the day I looked in the mirror and said wow you look 50 years old. I immediately began laughing as I realized I really was 50 years old. That is five decades. I remember the day my father in law visited me decades ago and it was at my house that he looked in my bathroom mirror and realized he was old.  We talked about how strange it was to look so old yet in his mind he thought like he did when he was a young man. Even decades later when we talked he said his mind was still young but his body definitely was aging. As I looked in the mirror at the image of an old person staring back at me no matter how young my mind felt it was  a fact that without a doubt, I was old. It is a good thing to feel young at heart but when you are old so is your heart so don't wear it out doing things it just can't handle.

Save your time and energy

Sometimes you know you have far too many things that you want to get done that you simply don't have time to do. You fill your mind with so many thoughts about what you want to get done and trying to figure out how on Earth you could. You rack your brain so hard thinking that you are physically exhausted. Without even moving physically it feels like you need a break. When you find yourself with more than you can do the first thing you need to do is be honest with yourself that you don't have time and accept it. Then you need to go over your "to do" list and anything that isn't a necessity to get done, JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind. Instantly you will feel a weight off your shoulders. That alone will energize you to tackle the ones that really need to get done. Being honest with yourself is the first step to getting things done.

The summer heat makes the winter a distant memory

The winter freezes make you long for spring to come. But right behind spring comes the blistering heat of summer. Which can be so unbearable that you look forward to the cool breezes of fall that blows in the winter freezes. Every season has a purpose that is necessary for nature's life cycle. There are things we enjoy doing during winter, spring, summer and fall. In order to enjoy the seasons you have to accept that you will also experience freezing temperatures and blistering heat at times. Throughout your life you go through many seasons and part of it is painful. But in order to enjoy life you just have to accept that. You get through the tough parts by knowing the season will be over soon.

Every one may be looking at the same thing but...

Have you ever heard someone describe something that you both experienced together and you knew that you didn't experience anything like that? Ten people could experience the same thing and describe it differently. They may be looking at the same thing but each person tends to focus on a part of it that catches their attention. Heck when each of us watch a movie that we have seen before we see small parts that we don't remember seeing. That is because the first time you were focused on what was happening between the main characters in a particular scene so intently that you couldn't see anything that was going on around them. But watching it the second time you already know what happens so you are able to focus on what is going on around them. When you are facing a tough situation in life try looking at things from more than one point of view.  You can't see a positive side to the situation you are dealing with if you don't look for one. Remember the old saying "seek and you shall find".

It's easy to hear it yet not understand what you heard

Have you heard of the old saying "when it rains it pours"? In case you haven't they are not talking about the weather. It is saying there are times in your life when you have to face one negative issue after another. What about the old saying "a watched pot never boils"? Each generation has their own "sayings" that make perfect sense and are self explanatory only if it was commonly said in your generation. When an "old saying" just rolls out of my mouth those younger than my generation look at me like I got two heads. But when my teenage son said "slow your roll" the other day I know the look on my face let him know I sure didn't understand what it meant but it sounded like a sarcastic comment. Once he explained it to me it did make sense but to me it still sounded strange. Sometimes the misunderstandings between the different generations is simply due to how we "SAY" things differently.

If you can't then how can anyone else?

If you can't get over it then it will never be over. You can't get over it if you keep it fresh on your mind. That only makes you relive it over and over again. You let it beat you down over and over again. It only happened once and that was enough. Why would you keep putting yourself through it over and over again? Accept it for what it is and learn from it then JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind. Sure it may pop up in your mind again and again but as long as you JUST FLUSH IT as it comes it can't hurt you again and again. You had no choice the first time it hurt you but it is your choice whether you let it hurt you again and again. You can't move forward if you don't learn how to JUST FLUSH IT so it can't hold you back.

How you look at it determines what you see

When I send out our customers monthly bills I randomly put a stamp on one or two customers return envelope. It was my way of bringing an unexpected smile to someone when they open their bill. After doing it for years we received our first phone call from the recipient of a stamped envelope. But to my surprise he was calling because the free stamp that I thought would make anyone smile actually made him mad. He felt like it was our way of saying he had a problem paying his bill. He actually quit just a few weeks later. It was a reaction that I had never thought about. Needless to say after his phone call I stopped putting a stamp on an envelope each month. It made me wander how many other customers I had upset and how many I had made smile. It was a reminder that you never know how anyone will see things. All you can do is enjoy  your half full glass of milk.