Love

Once upon a time there was an island where all the feelings lived; happiness, sadness, knowledge, vanity, richness and all the others, including Love. 

One day it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean. So all the feelings prepared their boats to leave. Love was the only one that stayed. She wanted to preserve the island paradise until the last possible moment. When the island was almost totally under, Love decided it was time to leave. She began looking for someone to ask for help. 

Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat. Love asked, "Richness, Can I come with you on your boat?"  Richness answered, " I'm sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there would be no room for you anywhere." Love understood.

Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was passing in a beautiful vessel.  Love cried out, "Vanity, help me please."  "I can't help you", Vanity said, "You are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat."  Love understood.

Next, Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said, "Sadness, please let me go with you." 
Sadness answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be alone now."  Love understood only too well.

Then, Love saw Happiness.  Love cried out, " Happiness, please take me with you." But Happiness was so overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling to him. Love began to cry, but understood.

Then, Love heard a voice say, "Come Love, I will take you with me." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived on land the elder went on his way. Love realized how much she owed the elder. 

Love then found Knowledge and asked, "Who was it that helped me?" "It was Time", Knowledge answered. 

"But why did Time help me when no one else would?", Love asked. 

Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

Bucket List

When time is at a minimum (free time) I wish for more time and to keep me pushing along this weekend on things I have to do, I took a minute to think of a few things I really want to do.  Maybe I will and maybe not, but that's what a list is all about, right?  Instilling just a bit of hope.

Venture out on a safari somewhere like Amboseli, Kenya and actually spend three months wandering with purpose and quite possibly with purpose.  Clean water mission.

Travel by camel even if it's just across a road.

Live with passion once more because passion endures a lifetime even as a memory.

Have a passport and use it positively

Jump off a plane in the air

with a parachute, of course.

Live a life with love really.

I find it interesting that in the book of Ecclesiastes, the only practical advice given about living a meaningful life is to find a job you like, enjoy your marriage, and obey God. It’s as though God is saying, “Write a good story; take somebody with you, and let me help.” I know that one day, I’ll tell all of my stories to God and I bet he’ll laugh. He’ll remind me of the parts I forgot, and then he’ll explain what it all means as we sit and remember my story together. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting, the climax and the resolution, and all we need to do is fill in the story. In that case, it would be a crime not to venture out, now wouldn’t it?

Everything Happens For A Reason: Breaking Down The Hash tag #hashtaguse

Everything Happens For A Reason: Breaking Down The Hash tag #hashtaguse: Hash tags have taken on a life of their own on Twitter and has recently gained momentum on other social media sites such as Facebook, Insta...

Breaking Down The Hash tag #hashtaguse

Hash tags have taken on a life of their own on Twitter and has recently gained momentum on other social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Reddit, Snap Chat and, well, you get the picture.  However, I'm over 50 so I need to ask my kids how to use a "hash tag".  Here's what I got from them:   "Mom, never, ever use a hash tag, it's stupid."   So much for an explanation.  So, it set out to do a bit of my own investigation.  After all, if it has a valid use for social media or business, I at least want to understand.  So, here it is in terms a 50 something can grasp.

Origin of the Hash Tag:  Apparently started on Twitter.  It actually has a valid use other than to further enunciate whatever post a person has strong feelings about (example:  Monday stinks #Mondaystinks).   On Twitter, if you tweeted that example, you just created a searchable link and should be able to search for everyone who feels "Monday stinks".  

How to post a Hash Tag:  Pretty simple, at the end of your status or post, it's the # (pound sign) followed by a group of words that sum up your post (no spaces).  Numbers can be used in a hash tag.  There you have it, a searchable link.  Apparently, hash tags are not case sensitive so proper capitalization/grammar rules don't apply.  However, if you want to differentiate words you can post #AmericanSniper but the results will be the same as #americansniper.  No punctuation marks like commas, periods, exclamation marks.

How to actually make some good use of a Hash Tag?  I still wasn't convinced until I gave it a try myself.  If you are posting about a movie or television show, the hash tag will group your post into a searchable link allowing you to join in a conversation of others with similar likes and interests.  Example:

American Sniper was a great movie, and a must see!
#americansniper

There is a lot of posting on social media right now about this recently released movie.  If you are interested in some of the posts, opinions and conversations taking place (even with those starring in and involved in the movie personally) this will guide you to a lot of that information.

Where to use a Hash Tag?  Twitter is the birthplace of the Hash Tag and can be useful on Twitter to see trends (see popular trends and hash tags on image above). The Twitter feed actually curates a list of Hash Tags that are trending or popular and you can actually review these.

Other social media sites that are beginning to use Hash Tags include Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest and Tumblr.  If you are really curious as to which hash tags are really trending or popular or "hot" a website called hashtag.org will provide more information.

Beyond that, have some fun with the hash tag and you may even find it useful in business.  Tweeting trends, articles, blogs, sales, promotions, upsells will actually create a searchable link for that item so it is valuable in business.  

From my perspective, in the over 50 crowd, hash tags sound like a way to organize your tweets or social media posts quite easily.  It may, in fact, be one of the easiest things I can organize in my life.  Go figure.   It can also help you craft your voice when you want to be a part of a larger discussion (think political rants, current events, news, sports) and help your posts (or rather your voice) to be heard by some pretty important people directly involved.  That's easier than writing a letter to your senator.  Except these days, you can find your senator on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and "tweet" directly to them.

#howtouseaHashTag
#hashtaguse
#hashtagrules
#lovehashtags
#becomeatopinfluencerusinghashtags

Everything Happens For A Reason: The Art or Etiquette of Text Messaging

Everything Happens For A Reason: The Art or Etiquette of Text Messaging: My mother is 84-years-old and for her birthday she wants an iPad, not a little one, a big one, so she can surf the Internet.  She just mast...

The Art or Etiquette of Text Messaging

My mother is 84-years-old and for her birthday she wants an iPad, not a little one, a big one, so she can surf the Internet.  She just mastered the art of text messaging and now she wants to take it to the next level.  I really want to be more like my 84-year-old mother in a lot of ways.  She was brought up in the 1950s where manners were taught, communication via typed letters was a resume skill you could bank on (she didn't even need White-Out for Pete's sake) and today, I'm still mastering the art of text messaging.  I understand how the technology works, but it's the "art" or "etiquette" behind it.  Most times, I still prefer to talk on the phone, because I can hear the person's voice and I know straight off how the content of the conversation is going to go based on tone of voice.  We don't have that with text messaging and because of that a lot of feelings can be hurt, mixed messages can be sent (inadvertently) and a host of other issues due to voice text, multi-tasking, and the list goes on and on.

Text Etiquette.  My wise daughter told me, a text message doesn't always need a fast reply and sometimes no reply at all.  Really?   That makes no sense to me at all.  My feelings are always tweaked when someone doesn't reply.  I then think to myself:  Did I say something wrong?  Is this the end of the conversation?  Agony.  Pure Agony.  I still don't know the right answer, but if I see the text message, I almost always reply.  If I send a text message and I don't think they need to reply.  I will say "no reply needed."  I now understand that is totally unnecessary.  

Solution:  People over 50 shouldn't text message.

          How we feel when we expect a text reply but don't get one.

The LONG text message.   Hidden message, you should have picked up the phone if you have a rolling text requiring an individual to pull over or delay their ATM transaction to read your rambling thoughts.
Except you don't have time to call or for whatever reason it's not convenient to call.  So you ramble via text message.

           Well, sometimes a long text message is kinda nice, right?

Solution:  People over 50 shouldn't text message.  They should pick up the phone and call, unless of course, that's not convenient for whatever reason and then, they should send a long text that is either going to be irritating, deleted unread or cause an accident.

The voice text message.  You better edit that one before you hit the "send" button.  Better make sure it pulled up the right contact person too.  Sending the wrong text to the wrong person on your contact list can be funny, but it can also be misinterpreted.

Solution:  People over 50 shouldn't text, unless you're my 84-year-old mother, in which case, you can darn right do whatever you want and won't be sorry.

Abbreviations, spacing, Emoji's. All of these are used to either help illustrate your message in an abbreviated way because you're too busy to write out the word or you want to clarify your mood/intention if the message has questionable content or could be perceived in a bad way, a negative way, as a complaint, an order, a feeling that is hurt, sad, mad, etc.

Solution:  I don't have one.  People over 50 shouldn't text.  It's just downright scary.  Happens all the time even when I don't expect it.

                   Which Is why I probably keep writing "books" and only get a "chapter" so get a life, save a life and stop text messaging!!

                  And, if you send a text that was misinterpreted...follow the above rules...

The people who text you regularly... Well, if you're like me you have a handful of good friends who check in on you regularly (some daily), definitely kids, for my this includes my 84-year-old mother, her boyfriend (yep, I said boyfriend) siblings, extended family, people from work and possibly someone "of the opposite sex".  

These are usually pretty short text messages, but still require a reply.."milk, eggs, bread and I have a headache do I have to go to school tomorrow????"

"Cheryl.can.you.stop.and.bring.in.my.mail?  Thank.you.baby.girl.from.the.heavens. Love, Momma
(that's my 84-year-old mother, who texts like she's sending a Western Union Telegram).  I'm used to it.

Solution:  People over 50 shouldn't text.  Except for these people in your life, because for the most part, they love you anyway even if your texting the wrong person, que the wrong emoji, purposely joking around or not..it's simply not going to matter.  They may laugh with you, at you, but they are still going to love you. 
If you don't reply, they understand.  If you reply with a long, rolling text, they understand (and read it).  

Most importantly, the people who truly love and care about you totally negates the purpose of this entire blog, because when your little text message shows up on their phone, they smile because it's you.

It took me a long time to figure this out, but I finally did and it's good advice.  If you have to hesitate or factor in any of the above rules they don't fit into this last category and you probably should just not text them.  Especially if you're over 50, like me. 

Or, you can just text away and adopt one of the following attitudes:

Lastly, if anyone in your life falls into these categories then never, ever, ever, ever text message them.  It's always going to be an Epic Fail, whatever that is.

And when you feel like texting  someone in that category, find these people to text, they love you more and it's more fun anyway...maybe.

Everything Happens For A Reason: Drama, It's Everywhere!

Everything Happens For A Reason: Drama, It's Everywhere!: What would life be like without a day of drama?  In fact, some days, I actually own the title Drama Queen.  I'm certainly no exception,...