On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification.And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂
Here’s Shaun
It is 7:25 p.m. in Bar Harbor, Maine and I still haven’t written my blog post! You know what that means? That means Carrie can’t relax until I have it written and she can then post it. I feel so bad right now, but also very lucky.
I feel lucky because I have an incredibly understanding wife! I would love to lie and tell you that she is pacing back and forth in the living room, smoking a cigar, and swearing at me like some old salty newspaper editor waiting for a reporter to turn in a story. But, I can’t. She used to actually be a newspaper editor. Did you know that?
It is partially her fault that I am running so late. I had been running plenty late on my own and told her that I would get it done right after dinner. When we sat down to dinner, an informal affair tonight in the living room, in front of the tv, we started to watch a romantic-Christmasy movie.
I feared the worst, but as it turned out, the movie was not bad at all and much better than I imagined it would be. That, my friends, is why I am so very late, instead of just late. The movie was just too good!
So, I blame it on Carrie. I blame it on Carrie that I have such a wonderful life. I blame it on Carrie that I wish that I had the ability to replicate all of the romantic words and actions in that movie so that I could make her feel loved in just the way that I do love her.
I wish I could show her how I love her in the same manner that makes people watch those silly Christmas romance movies for the entire month of December! The kind of love and romance that somehow makes her eyes leak when she is just lying on the couch watching a silly movie.
Alas, I can’t. Try as we may, in real life you don’t get to script your words, actions, and emotions. But you can keep trying and keep learning and keep apologizing.
I am lucky!
Remember to learn, apologize, keep trying and always, Love Your Way Through it!
Shaun
Share this if you want and also because it would be super nice of you!
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification.And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂 And lots of times his jokes get me all embarrassed.
I am having a really hard time with this blog today. I feel badly because Carrie can’t post it until I have written it and I hate being the last thing she does at night.
Unless it’s in the bedroom!
Hopefully you laughed at that, because right now, as you read this, even if it’s three days later, I am still getting berated for sullying her good reputation. And deservedly so!
Sometimes I can’t help myself. I say things that are funny! Okay, they are funny to me. I tend to think, in comedic terms, as if I am a very popular (and wealthy) stand-up comedian. Yet, after all of these years, I still forget that most successful stand-up comics who make jokes about loved ones probably run these jokes by said loved ones.
That will be my new excuse when I get in trouble for making a joke that involves Carrie. “I was just trying out a new joke for my stand-up routine, baby.”
I will give you a perfect example. The other night, we were talking about how we both still wanted to go on an extended backpacking trip. Part of the Appalachian Trail or five nights out in the woods anywhere, for example.
I looked at Carrie with longing in my eyes and she said, “Of course you will have to carry most of the weight for our supplies.”
And this is a true statement. I am bigger and stronger than Carrie by nature and sheer physical size. However, Carrie also has chronically pained shoulders and bad knees. As in, both knees. As in she has to wear knee braces when running or hiking.
So, I know that if we ever go on a hiking trip where we spend the night or multiple nights in the woods, camping, I will indeed be carrying most of the weight. This does not bother me one iota! In fact, it makes me feel good and proud. All of those manly things that make us macho, caretaking, personality types feel good about ourselves.
And I looked Carrie in the eye, very lovingly, and I said, “If you were a pack mule, we would have to put you down.”
She laughed! She laughed so hard that she was holding her stomach and rolling on the couch. Then she got a gleam in her eye, an evil gleam!
She looked at me. “I am going to post that.”
“Okay, just make sure you give some back story.”
No, response from Carrie who was busy typing away on her phone.
We had a good rest of the night and I got up the next morning and I go on Facebook so I can share Carrie’s posts and I see this:
Shaun just told me that if I was a donkey I would be put down. I honestly don’t know how we are still married. Edited to add: Oh! I know how! Because I am patient and forgiving like a good pack animal. Lol
I am a lucky man! I love my wife more than anything! I do and I just want to say that love is about forgiveness and understanding!
I don’t know who had more forgiveness and understanding in my story, but it doesn’t matter, without, nothing works well!
Remember that and remember to always LOVE YOUR WAY THROUGH IT!
Now, go make somebody laugh,
Shaun
The Places We Hide by Carrie Jones (That’s me. If you click the image, it will bring you to the Amazon page!)
The third book in Rosie and Seamus’s story of adventure, mystery, and death is here!
Sometimes the treasure is not worth the hunt . . . .
When a little boy goes missing on a large Maine island, the community is horrified especially almost-lovers Rosie Jones and Sergeant Seamus Kelley. The duo’s dealt with two gruesome serial killers during their short time together and are finally ready to focus on their romance despite their past history of murders and torment.
Things seem like they’ve gone terribly wrong. Again. Rosie wakes up in the middle of the woods. Is she sleepwalking or is something more sinister going on?
What at first seems like a fun treasure hunt soon turns into something much more terrifying . . . and they learn that things are not yet safe on their island or in their world. If they want to keep more people from going missing, Rosie and Seamus have to crack the puzzle before it’s too late.
To buy it, click here, and let me know! I might send you something!
Share this if you want and also because it would be super nice of you!
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification.And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂 But this time we definitely do.
Shaun Farrar
Yesterday did not start off great for me. It was a stressful morning in a routine sort of way, nothing especially bad, but enough to put me in a bad mood for the majority of the morning.
Of course, I am a firm believer in setting your own mood and allowing yourself to not be negative if you have that choice. Yesterday was just one of those days where it was a bit harder to shake off the gloom of negativity.
And it only got worse.
While I was at a customer’s house working, I heard a noise that was obviously a dog in distress. There are no dogs near this house, routinely, so it struck me as odd. I was on the second floor and looked out of a window that overlooks the road.
I could see a dog lying on the edge of the road directly in front of the house where I was working.
I said, “Oh, shit!” and ran downstairs.
By the time I got downstairs, the poor pooch was gone, but I quickly located it at the house next door. It was a medium-sized mixed breed that was standing on its own and being held by the neighbor’s landscaper. I asked her if the dog belonged there and she responded that it did not.
The dog had no apparent broken bones and was very calm and friendly but was obviously injured because it was sneezing a lot and every time it sneezed, it sprayed blood everywhere. I was pretty sure that the landscaper was pretty much tapped out just holding onto the dog, so I asked her if she would be okay holding onto the dog long enough for me to go back to my truck and get something to use as a leash. She said she was fine.
After securing the pup and bringing it back to my truck, I took a picture of it and asked Carrie if she could post it on Facebook and try to find out who owns it. There are not a lot of houses in the immediate vicinity of where I was and not living there, I was not familiar with the residents and their pets.
Long story short, the owner was not identified in a timely manner and as soon as I was able to secure what I had been doing at the house, I loaded the dog up in my truck and headed for the vet. Carrie called ahead to our local vet and was told that they didn’t have an actual vet on duty that day. So, I had to drive the 45 minutes to the vet a couple towns over.
It was a fine ride and the dog and I enjoyed each other’s company. Or, at least I did!
We only had to wait a few minutes until the vet could exam her and it turned out that she had a significant facial injury that is very common in cases where dogs come into contact with a moving motor vehicle.
After saying my goodbyes, I left my new friend in the very capable hands of the vet, who just so happens to be our vet as well. Okay, we have two vets because we’re overachievers, but he is one of them and he is the type of vet you can trust when it comes to trauma.
Later in the afternoon, I received a call from the owner, and he was very frazzled and understandably it was not the best conversation in the history of conversations.
I didn’t care. Not everyone can maintain a normal level of courtesy under times of stress. It’s human nature.
Then he called me back this morning and it was a totally different experience! He was very apologetic, very thankful, and even offered to call me back and give me an update after his dog had undergone the necessary surgery.
And that my friends is why I took the time to disregard my plans for the remainder of yesterday and bring that beautiful animal to the vet. I wasn’t trying to be a hero. I don’t need any praise from anyone. But I do need people to feel good and I know that if you, yes you, the reader, everyone, doesn’t take the time to be compassionate and kind, even when it is putting you out, the world as we know it will literally implode!
They say that everyone is someone’s daughter, son, wife, or husband. The same can be said for animals. In fact, sometimes I think that there are people who love animals more than humans and that is okay. Wouldn’t you want a stranger to aid your loved one, be it human or animal, if they needed assistance?
Yes, you would!
So, next time you get the opportunity to do the same for someone else, friend, foe or stranger, you should jump on that opportunity to keep the world on its axis and keep the love flowing.
Remember to always Love Your Way Through It!
Peace,
Shaun
This is Carrie again. Shaun never thinks he’s a hero. He’ll save a drowning child in the hotel pool and never tell anyone about it. Where other people will trumpet saving a turtle in the middle of the road, Shaun will just do it.
Shaun’s pretty awesome. We need more Shauns.
BE A PART OF OUR MISSION!
Hey! We’re all about inspiring each other to be weird, to be ourselves and to be brave and we’re starting to collect stories about each other’s bravery. Those brave moments can be HUGE or small, but we want you to share them with us so we can share them with the world. You can be anonymous if you aren’t brave enough to use your name. It’s totally chill.
Want to be part of the team? Send us a quick (or long) email and we’ll read it here and on our YouTube channel.
LET’S HANG OUT!
HEY! DO YOU WANT TO SPEND MORE TIME TOGETHER?
MAYBE TAKE A COURSE, CHILL ON SOCIAL MEDIA, BUY ART OR A BOOK, OR LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST?
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification. And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂
Shaun squinting.
I recently read a Facebook post by someone who lives in my community about not letting love and kindness die in today’s confrontational world. This post struck me as important and also something that I have recently adopted. Actually, reinvigorated may be a better word for how I am approaching the “random acts of kindness” way of thinking.
Let me just say that I am not writing this as any type of ego-boosting or self-congratulatory dribble!
Every decent thought or act that passes through my brain and body is solely due to other people who have influenced my life. Most recently, and perhaps most greatly, that person would be my amazing wife, Carrie Jones. Before her there were others, my mother, my grandmother, and especially my grandfather, but all of the credit belongs to them, not really me.
So, here is the thing.
All of us, or at least most of us, seem to always be in a rush. Rushing here, rushing there, thinking only of ourselves and our own perceived priorities. I am almost always that person. I am the human who hates waiting in traffic or getting stuck talking to someone who wasn’t a previously planned contact.
These kind of events make get me perturbed, angry even, and it happens quickly, or at least it used to.
You can ask Carrie and she will tell you how I act when I am driving and other drivers, pedestrians or bicyclists don’t act or react in the way that I think is most efficient. It isn’t pretty!
We must take a quick commercial break for some backstory.
When I was in my early twenties, somebody once said that I was the most calm person they ever met. I was.
I was like a stoner who didn’t smoke weed. I rarely showed anger. I rarely cussed. I rarely ever let anyone see an emotional reaction that wasn’t calm.
Then I became a cop. Then I had a dysfunctional marriage (not with Carrie!). Then I became a high context person who didn’t even try to contain any negative emotion or reaction. If I was not in a good mood, everyone in the room would know it when I walked in without me even saying a word.
What a waste of a lot years that was!
Now we return you to our regularly scheduled programming.
It has taken me five years to shed that shell. But, I am super glad that I have.
Now Carrie may argue this point a bit … but there is a difference between public persona and intimate knowledge of a person . I will readily admit that I am still high context at home but hopefully, as I like to believe, it is not such a negative high context.
I am definitely enjoying being more mellow about life and all of the things that make us humans feel rushed all of the time. I don’t get mind-blowing, swear-word-inducing mad when traffic isn’t flowing at a constant ten miles per hour over the speed limit. I am happy to stop and let someone pull out in front of me or cross the road in front of me. Even if they didn’t bother to walk the extra ten feet to actually get into the crosswalk!
I am trying not to mumble under my breath or dance in place with anger because the person at the self-checkout kiosk doesn’t have their crap together.
I am holding the door open for people again, even though we are still basically in a COVID crisis and half of the people I hold doors from have apparently not heard of masking.
And most importantly I am enjoying the reactions that I get from people who I stop for or hold a door for or even just say hello to in a nice voice. I like to believe that a “thank you” or a smile means that I have made someone’s life a little bit better. I don’t care if it makes them more happy for the rest of the day or for two minutes until they have to face their next crisis.
I did my part.
Just think what would happen, what a better place the world would be if we ALL did our part! Amazing!
So, give it a try. Mellow out and throw out some kindness and love, randomly! See how you feel after and pretend that the recipient feels one miniscule amount better because of it.
Remember to always Love Your Way Through It!
Peace,
Shaun
The Places We Hide by Carrie Jones (That’s me. If you click the image, it will bring you to the Amazon page!)
The third book in Rosie and Seamus’s story of adventure, mystery, and death is here!
Sometimes the treasure is not worth the hunt . . . .
When a little boy goes missing on a large Maine island, the community is horrified especially almost-lovers Rosie Jones and Sergeant Seamus Kelley. The duo’s dealt with two gruesome serial killers during their short time together and are finally ready to focus on their romance despite their past history of murders and torment.
Things seem like they’ve gone terribly wrong. Again. Rosie wakes up in the middle of the woods. Is she sleepwalking or is something more sinister going on?
What at first seems like a fun treasure hunt soon turns into something much more terrifying . . . and they learn that things are not yet safe on their island or in their world. If they want to keep more people from going missing, Rosie and Seamus have to crack the puzzle before it’s too late.
To buy it, click here, and let me know! I might send you something!
Share this if you want and also because it would be super nice of you!
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification. And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂
Do you remember being in middle school?
I do. I remember many variations of middle school because I went to at least three of them in different cities in Florida. The demographics of each one were vastly different and I am quite positive that my middle school experiences played a large role shaping me into the person I am today.
But, overall, all twelve years of my public school experience were not a huge deal for me. I would rather have been doing something other than attending school of course, but wouldn’t most of us?
Carrie: Cough. No. Learning is fun!
So, with that tiny bit of backstory in hand, I pose to you this question.
Which did (or do) you hate more?
Having to get up for school when you were actually the one attending or having to get up for school because you are a responsible parent and you have to get your child prepared for the day and then to school?
I know that question makes me sound like a horrible, selfish and unloving parent, but that is just not true.
It is really the fact that now that I am an adult, some things are so much harder!
I mean, it sucks having to get up and attend school when you are a kid.
It sucks having to get up and attend class when you are a young adult and going to college.
And it really sucks to have to get up and go get an education when you are well into adulthood, already have a college degree (probably a job and possibly kids) and just want a better degree because you actually care enough to try and make your life better.
Why then do we do it?
We do it because we want to live the best life possible and we want our kids to have an even better life than us in the end.
I wish I could explain all of this to my kid. I wish they would accept the fact that while adults don’t necessarily know everything, we damn sure know more about most things in life!
I wish I could explain to my kid that yes, in fact, you are growing up in a totally different world than I did, but that damn sure doesn’t make your fairly cushy life any harder than mine when I was your age!
I wish I could explain to my kid that yes, I do love you and care about you and I damn sure know what’s better for you than the people online!
Some day people! Some day they will appreciate us and most of what we have done for them. That is what we can hope at least. But if they don’t? Well, if they don’t, we were successful because they are better people or have better lives because we did our jobs as loving parents then so be it. We are all still winners!
So, take this convoluted blogpost to be nothing more than a reminder that you are doing a good job. You, parent, are doing what is right and all of your sacrifices, hard work, and lack of sleep is the job you took on when you decided to procreate and you are doing one hell of a good job!
Pat yourself on the back and have some “me” time when that little hellion is sleeping. You deserve it!
Remember, it is easier when You Love Your Way Through It!
Peace,
Shaun
NEW BOOK ALERT!
I just want to let everyone know that INCHWORMS (The Dude Series Book 2) is out and having a good time as Dude competes for a full scholarship at a prestigious Southern college and getting into a bit of trouble.
Here’s what it’s about:
A fascinating must-read suspense from New York Times bestseller Carrie Jones.
A new chance visiting a small Southern college. A potential love interest for a broken girl obsessed with psychology. A damaged group of co-eds. A drowning that’s no accident. A threat that seems to have no end.
And just like that Jessica Goodfeather aka Dude’s trip away from her claustrophobic life in Maine to try to get an amazing scholarship to her dream school has suddenly turned deadly. Again.
What would you do to make a difference?
After his best friend Norah was almost abducted, Cole Nicholaus has spent most of his childhood homeschooled, lonely and pining for Norah to move from best friend to girl friend status. When birds follow him around or he levitates the dishes, he thinks nothing of it—until a reporter appears and pushes him into making a choice: stay safe at home or help save a kidnapped kid.
Cole and Norah quickly end up trying to not just save a kid, but an entire town from a curse that has devastating roots and implications for how exactly Cole came to be the saint that he is.
Can Cole stop evil from hurting him and Norah again? And maybe even get together? Only the saints know.
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the NEED series, Saint is a book about dealing with the consequences that make us who we are and being brave enough to admit who we love and what we need.
BUY NOW! 🙂 I made a smiley face there so you don’t feel like I’m too desperate.
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification. And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂
And I did not freaking fall asleep on the couch today. I was there for five minutes, so he is a lying liar who lies.
It is 3:35 in the afternoon here where Carrie and I live. It is quite hot for our part of Maine, which is on the coast and usually runs a bit cooler than the inland areas and my phone is telling me that it is 84 degrees. Not horrible, but hot and humid enough to make a person want to just lie down on their couch for a minute after working for eight hours already with a guaranteed two hours of work left in the day.
Yes, Carrie just laid down on our couch, “for a minute.”
I don’t blame her one bit! If anything I am a bit jealous because I still have to write this blog, mow our lawn and produce dinner. Okay, I will be honest and tell you that our lawn is small and dinner will be pizza from a place just down the street. I will even drive to pick it up when it is literally a three minute walk! Despicable I know, but I had to flesh out my remaining to do list items a bit, because she still has real work to do.
Anyway, Carrie is on the couch, supine.
I am very happy for her because she, honestly, works very hard, every day! I am not exaggerating at all, she does.
I am concerned about her though.
You see, Carrie and our couch have a very special relationship. Every time she lies in the arms of the couch it does something to her. Something special I suppose. I mean, why else would she fall asleep almost immediately? It must be something better than whatever I do when we lay down in bed at night and she has trouble falling asleep.
Okay, perhaps a tiny bit jealous.
Actually, as a most incredibly loving husband, I am happy for her! I am happy that she has a place to go where she can actually relax and free her brain from the woes of the world. Maybe if I wrap myself in smooth and supple leather before bed at night she will be able to sleep like this next to me.
My real point here is that everyone should have such a place!
Find your couch, people! Find that place where you can relax so much that even the constant text notifications on your phone don’t rouse you from your repose.
You deserve it!
You need it!
I am going to go mow our lawn now. Hopefully I will remember to awaken Carrie before her 4:30 Zoom meeting with a client.
Peace be with you folks, y’all deserve it. And, as always, remember to Love Your Way Through It!
Shaun
NEW BOOK ALERT!
I just want to let everyone know that INCHWORMS (The Dude Series Book 2) is out and having a good time as Dude competes for a full scholarship at a prestigious Southern college and getting into a bit of trouble.
Here’s what it’s about:
A fascinating must-read suspense from New York Times bestseller Carrie Jones.
A new chance visiting a small Southern college. A potential love interest for a broken girl obsessed with psychology. A damaged group of co-eds. A drowning that’s no accident. A threat that seems to have no end.
And just like that Jessica Goodfeather aka Dude’s trip away from her claustrophobic life in Maine to try to get an amazing scholarship to her dream school has suddenly turned deadly. Again.
What would you do to make a difference?
After his best friend Norah was almost abducted, Cole Nicholaus has spent most of his childhood homeschooled, lonely and pining for Norah to move from best friend to girl friend status. When birds follow him around or he levitates the dishes, he thinks nothing of it—until a reporter appears and pushes him into making a choice: stay safe at home or help save a kidnapped kid.
Cole and Norah quickly end up trying to not just save a kid, but an entire town from a curse that has devastating roots and implications for how exactly Cole came to be the saint that he is.
Can Cole stop evil from hurting him and Norah again? And maybe even get together? Only the saints know.
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the NEED series, Saint is a book about dealing with the consequences that make us who we are and being brave enough to admit who we love and what we need.
BUY NOW! 🙂 I made a smiley face there so you don’t feel like I’m too desperate.
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification. And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂
Do you ever think about death?
By that I mean your own impending death, because everyone’s death is impending after all.
I have always thought about my own death, off and on, randomly, for no apparent reason. Lately, however, I have been mulling it over in my mind more frequently. I am not afraid of dying although I do not want to die too soon because, frankly, I love life.
What bothers me the most when I think about my death is those that I will leave behind. Those people I love and I hope love me back. Those people I hold dearest to my heart. But, it is not all of those that I love that affect me, it is a select few and after much consideration of my thoughts on my demise I have decided that I know why I always think of these same people.
I feel guilty! Without a doubt, it never fails to make me sad, almost to tears, when I think of my passing and of these people that are special to me. My sadness comes from a fear of unfinished work, unmet responsibilities and the sudden inability to protect or simply just be there for them.
Did I teach them all that I know? Did I work as hard as I possibly could to provide for them financially? Did I help them find their way to being a good human being? How will they even survive without me around?
Wait! Will they even miss me?
I think they will miss me, some of them may even miss me greatly. For this, I feel guilty also, for leaving and being the cause of their missing. I don’t say this egotistically, because I don’t think I am all that wonderful, but because I don’t want to be responsible for any sadness.
I am trying to look at all that I have written above from all angles. I see that I come across as being an insecure cry baby who doesn’t have any faith in some of those closest to him and neither of those things is really true. Well, maybe a little.
What I always end up thinking is that these people who are in my little orbit of death thoughts are the ones that I want to tell how much I love them and how much they mean to me, every single day! These are the people that I cannot live without, not so much the other way around. But I try and make sure, in my own convoluted ways, that they know how special they are to me without telling them that I am scared to death of losing (and not being there for) THEM!
So, remember to take the time to tell those special people in your life how much they mean to you. And do it often, before you have to unravel your own tangled thoughts or write your own dysfunctional blogpost to get the message across.
Remember to Love Your Way Through It!
Shaun
NEW BOOK ALERT!
I just want to let everyone know that INCHWORMS (The Dude Series Book 2) is out and having a good time as Dude competes for a full scholarship at a prestigious Southern college and getting into a bit of trouble.
Here’s what it’s about:
A fascinating must-read suspense from New York Times bestseller Carrie Jones.
A new chance visiting a small Southern college. A potential love interest for a broken girl obsessed with psychology. A damaged group of co-eds. A drowning that’s no accident. A threat that seems to have no end.
And just like that Jessica Goodfeather aka Dude’s trip away from her claustrophobic life in Maine to try to get an amazing scholarship to her dream school has suddenly turned deadly. Again.
What would you do to make a difference?
After his best friend Norah was almost abducted, Cole Nicholaus has spent most of his childhood homeschooled, lonely and pining for Norah to move from best friend to girl friend status. When birds follow him around or he levitates the dishes, he thinks nothing of it—until a reporter appears and pushes him into making a choice: stay safe at home or help save a kidnapped kid.
Cole and Norah quickly end up trying to not just save a kid, but an entire town from a curse that has devastating roots and implications for how exactly Cole came to be the saint that he is.
Can Cole stop evil from hurting him and Norah again? And maybe even get together? Only the saints know.
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the NEED series, Saint is a book about dealing with the consequences that make us who we are and being brave enough to admit who we love and what we need.
BUY NOW! 🙂 I made a smiley face there so you don’t feel like I’m too desperate.
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification. And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂
These are the things I have heard in the last thirty seconds in my house.
Carrie, after turning around and seeing my completely blank blogpost Word document, “Oh my God that is a naked page!”
Me handily offering up an intelligent rebuttal, “Yeah, look down here at the bottom. Isn’t this every writer’s worst nightmare? Page one of one, zero words.”
Carrie then points across the office. “Oh my God, there is a furball blowing across the floor!”
I was having such a hard time trying to figure out what to write today! I knew that I wanted it to be about love, in some way at least. However, I just couldn’t latch onto an idea that was striking me both in the heart and the funny bone.
Then Carrie had the gall to try and check in on my blogpost writing progress! I mean, yeah, she is the one who has to do all of the pre-posting work and whatnot, and is totally dependent upon me, “the talent,” to pen a masterpiece, but come on. Then it struck me.
Love is all about mental flexibility! Love is about not giving one crap if you just made a hilarious joke and the person listening to your joke doesn’t even acknowledge said joke, let alone laugh.
“Oh my God, there is a furball blowing across the floor!”
Love is all about taking a picture of the cat lounging on the couch cleaning her privates and then showing that picture to the object of your love. Object of love then chuckles and says, “She has the same look on her face that you always look at me with.”
I say, “I was trying to get her to give me a ‘what the hell are you looking at face.’”
Object of love says, “Yeah, that’s the one I mean.”
Then we both chuckled a bit. At least I think she did, but either way, we went on loving each other.
See what I mean? Love is the ability to be flexible! You either have to be mentally flexible enough to roll with the swell of the waves or mentally flexible enough to convince yourself that the other person is that mentally flexible and forgives you.
Actually, I am just kidding. That doesn’t usually work out to good after a while. Be mentally flexible! Remember that nobody is perfect and your way is not the only good way.
Have a very flexible week and remember to always Love Your Way Through It!
Shaun
BE A PART OF OUR MISSION!
Hey! We’re all about inspiring each other to be weird, to be ourselves and to be brave and we’re starting to collect stories about each other’s bravery. Those brave moments can be HUGE or small, but we want you to share them with us so we can share them with the world. You can be anonymous if you aren’t brave enough to use your name. It’s totally chill.
Want to be part of the team? Send us a quick (or long) email and we’ll read it here and on our YouTube channel.
LET’S HANG OUT!
HEY! DO YOU WANT TO SPEND MORE TIME TOGETHER?
MAYBE TAKE A COURSE, CHILL ON SOCIAL MEDIA, BUY ART OR A BOOK, OR LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST?
On Thursday, my co-podcaster, Shaun, and husband guy, takes over the blog.
He’s adorable. I hope you’ll read what he says even if he does occasionally sound like a surfer dude from the 1990sor Captain Pontification. And no, we don’t always agree. 🙂
Today, somehow, I allowed Carrie to successfully wake me up at the unholy hour of 5 a.m.
When I was a child and a teenager, I was a morning person. Now, not so much! But, she was able to rouse me out of bed and we decided to take our two dogs, Sparty and Gabby, on a walk about town.
I enjoyed it! I really did. In our town, which is a tourist dependent town, it gets crazy in the summer. The roads are crowded and the sidewalks are crowded. The grocery store? Forget about it.
Guess what?
At 5 a.m. there is almost nobody else out. Amazing! The town employees had just recently hosed off all of the sidewalks so they were clean and empty. The dogs relished their walk through unfamiliar territory and we thoroughly enjoyed not having to walk around other people or wonder why the person walking next to you just coughed.
We had the entire town to ourselves it seemed.
The dogs had such a long walk that they got tired towards the end and were truly trudging along like a three year old at Disney World.
But me, I was great! I mean it took me a good half hour to forgive Carrie for getting me up at fivev, but after that I was really enjoying myself. We were sharing the sidewalks with only the occasional early morning jogger and it was so strangely wonderful.
All of this with no coffee!
Blah, blah, blah, you say. So, what, you got your lazy butt out of bed and went for a walk without coffee. Do you want a medal?
I can sense all of these things that you are thinking, but I really do have a point.
My point?
Do something different once in a while. Allow yourself to be convinced to break the rules of you. Take the risk of getting out of your groove and experience something different. It is refreshing.
We all need refreshing once in a while!
Peace and remember to always Love Your Way Through It!
Shaun
BE A PART OF OUR MISSION!
Hey! We’re all about inspiring each other to be weird, to be ourselves and to be brave and we’re starting to collect stories about each other’s bravery. Those brave moments can be HUGE or small, but we want you to share them with us so we can share them with the world. You can be anonymous if you aren’t brave enough to use your name. It’s totally chill.
Want to be part of the team? Send us a quick (or long) email and we’ll read it here and on our YouTube channel.
LET’S HANG OUT!
HEY! DO YOU WANT TO SPEND MORE TIME TOGETHER?
MAYBE TAKE A COURSE, CHILL ON SOCIAL MEDIA, BUY ART OR A BOOK, OR LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST?
So, at dinner last night, Carrie introduced me to this little crumb of life coach theory. She asked me what my three favorite things were to do when I was eight years old.
I looked at her like she had three heads and asked her how she expected me to remember such information at my age.
Of course, she hates it when I deflect her questions with another question in an effort to stall or just change the subject, but I hate having to think about myself in an introspective way.
However, she was dead set on me answering this question and not letting me get away with my techniques of conversational derailing. I answered her. I answered her because I pretty much knew the answer and I love her and didn’t want to disappoint her yet again.
My answer was that I loved to read, run around in the woods collecting forest creatures that have no business being pets for the sole purpose of making them pets, and I loved to fish.
Carrie was not surprised by my answers and went on to tell me that these things are what I am supposed to be doing now. These things are what would make me happy if I was able to just do them for the majority of, or a good portion of, my adult life. She, as always, is right.
Nothing would make me happier than to be able to run around in the woods looking for Bigfoot or to be fishing all of the time. Reading can be accomplished on the days when the weather is not conducive to outdoor activities.
But how can this be possible as an adult I asked her. Her response was that the things we loved to do most often when we are of a semi-independent childhood age are what we should do all of our lives to maintain our best lifestyle. The lifestyle that makes us the most happy and content.
I looked at her with a face that she knew meant, “this is impossible, woman.” I have too many responsibilities to ever be able to do that. Knowing me as well as she does, she went on to explain that this is indeed the trap. The responsibility trap that keeps a majority of us from doing what we really want. The trap of social expectations!
We don’t really have to live to make as much money as we can. We don’t really have to live to live up to someone else’s expectations. What we should be doing is living to live the best life that we can, for us.
I REALLY need to start doing the things that I love to do! I need to take my own beautiful and loving wife’s advice and start doing more of what makes me the happiest. So does she.
Don’t waste your life away not doing the things that you love people!
And as you do those things, remember to always Love Your Way Through It!
Shaun
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