Write with TLC

2024 has found me, us, the world. I keep searching for meaning in the moments, large and small, that made up 2023, globally as well as personally. There are disappointments, challenges, losses, and triumphs dotted throughout the year. Somehow today it is the little kindnesses that stand out to me in a sea of painful moments. And, I wonder if sometimes we forget that a little kindness, a little love, a little compassion goes a long way toward making life bearable for those in challenging circumstances. My problems this year pale in comparison to worldwide atrocities. They were still challenges I had to face and handle. Those challenges taught me some lessons about the people in my life as well as about myself. Frankly, I don't want to talk about my personal 2023 right now. Relationships change, grow, end, and begin. People lift us up and people let us down. Good things happen, and bad things happen. The world around us can be incredibly kind and just as cruel. And through it all, we...

What now? The end of 2022 is upon us. In a few hours, it'll be 2023. How was your 2022? Funny how I haven't heard that question asked much lately. But then again, I've been housebound due to a foot injury for much of the last few months. As I've stated many times over, I don't really get the big deal about the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. Life goes on regardless of what number is on the calendar. That said, I think 2022 has been both good and bad, like most years. On the professional side, I'm rather happy with the progress I made on my poetry. I'm not as happy with the progress I made on the novel I'm working on. I'm happy with the cards and other products I've created on  Zazzle . I'm not as happy that both this blog and my cooking blog, Vegan Cooking with TLC , ended up rather neglected this year. I'm happy I posted more reviews on Reviews with TLC this year and figured out how I want to approach reviews going forwa...

  Here we are again... At the end of another year! I had such big plans for 2020! Yeah.... Sighs! I really want to write some empowering, inspiring, hopeful words right now, but they're not coming. They will come again but not today. I have never been one to think the clock ticking over to a new year is anything more than arbitrary. It changes nothing other than the number we have to write on dated material and resetting the tax year... It doesn't make us more whatever it is we want to be. It doesn't erase whatever bad we want to ignore. It doesn't change our habits or goals or daily lives. There is some comfort in that as well as some discomfort in it. It would be nice if that tick would actually reset things and make them better. If it would push us into a new phase or place or purpose, but it doesn't. I hear many people saying things like "I can't wait for this year to be over." and I've even caught myself saying it. Then I wonder why. I know th...

I'm not one to think the changing of the year changes much... It's just another day, but I have to admit 2019 was a tough year. Friends, family, and loved ones have faced challenges I could do nothing about. I've faced my own challenges which pale in comparison to what people I love dearly have faced with courage and aplomb. I've had to face my own limitations in ways I never anticipated, but there they were shining in my face refusing to be denied. There is only so much I can do, and sometimes even that just isn't enough. But that doesn't mean I'm not enough. As I look toward 2020, I can't help but think that next year has to be better, yet the realistic side of me knows many of the challenges are still in the middle, no where near the resolution, and in some cases the only, or at least likely, resolution isn't desirable anyway. Maybe, just maybe, I'll handle them better than I did in 2019. So, this isn't going to be a romanticized r...

photo by Loay Abu-Husein  I'm in a strange place as the new year approaches. This year has been filled with disappointments and accomplishments, deception and revelation, gains and losses, but then again what year isn't? I've seen a lot of people bemoaning 2013 and wishing for 2014 to get here as if that will magically reset the clock and make all the bad stuff disappear... Wouldn't that be nice? But would it really? I'm not so sure. I've come to realize the bad stuff is just as important to a full life as the good stuff. Without the struggles, how would we grow? Without the disappointments, how would we discover what we don't want? Without the losses, how would appreciate the gains? I love my life. I am happy not because my life is perfect, but because I know this is my journey and I get to travel it until the moment I don't. And, frankly, at least for now, I'd rather be travelling it than not. Even when my heart breaks, I know it's ...

Another new year is upon us. Ready for us whether we're ready for it or not. I hear people say they're glad 2012 is almost over almost as if closing the door on 2012 will magically erase all the challenges they faced. Well, it's a nice thought, but really whatever plagued you in 2012 will still be there in 2013. The only way challenges disappear is when we face them, embrace them, and finally conquer them. I wish I could close my eyes tomorrow night and wake up to discover all my problems were solved. Well, actually, that's a lie. I have fleeting moments when I feel that way, but what would I learn if that happened? The challenges in our lives are opportunities to grow into our best selves, to find our paths in life, to rise up and touch others with our journeys. So, while my 2012 was filled with challenges and had some very rocky and unsettling moments, I learned a lot and I grew a lot. Do I wish these things hadn't happened? Sometimes, because I think mistakes...