Thank you to all who serve, have served, or plan to serve. We all owe you more than we could ever hope to repay.

Here’s the truth: You can be a really good friend, and still not really be liked. You can hold someone dear and still not be valued. You can say all the right things, and still have someone twist your words, brush off your words, or worse—use your words against you. You can give it your absolute best, and still have it not work out. You can be straight-up sunshine in the flesh, and still walk into a shit storm . You can play your heart out, and still lose the game. You can place the highest bid, and still walk away empty-handed. You can be pure as humanly possible, and still be painted as the bad guy. After years of work, these are some things I’ve learned: You can’t control other people. Not even in the slightest, and it is a complete waste to ever assume you can. It will make you mad as hell , and exhausted, and chasing something you don’t have a chance to catch, so switch gears and control you. Control your mouth. Control how you treat people. Control your attitude. Guard your heart, and keep it genuine. Keep showing up, and let that be enough.. Other people aren’t you. They don’t think like you, or feel like you. Their experiences belong to them alone. They approach situations differently, and their outlook is nothing like yours. Don’t expect them to handle things exactly like you do. They aren’t you. They’re them. Do your best to love them for it. Some people are never going to like you, and there isn’t necessarily and a rhyme or reason. Your life will improve significantly as soon as you learn this and trust me its not the end of the world... Sometimes you’re actually the bad guy. Sometimes you’re the one acting foolish. Sometimes you’re the one with the toxic trait or two. Check your own heart. Clean out the junk, and grow from it. Apologize, and now that you’ve learned—take that wisdom, do better next time, stay humble, and give others an awful lot of grace along the way. There is a purpose to it all. There is beauty everywhere. That failed friendship will teach you how to do the next one better. That heartache will remind you to be gentle with other people. That loneliness will help you appreciate connection when you do find it—and you will find it, probably when your least looking but it's out there somewhere... Not every season lasts forever, but every season does produce something precious eventually, even if it’s just a fresh perspective. So sleep well, . Life is a long series of letting some things go and holding others close—a catch and release sort of cycle. Let go of needing approval. Let go of bitterness, and resentment, and any of that junk. Let go of insecurity. Let go of guilt. It will keep you shackled like nothing else. Hold close to your family and the people in your life who have stuck around. Hold close to your morals and your integrity. Hold close to your hopes and dreams because really nothing you set your mind to is impossible..Believe in tomorrow. Hold closest to those you love. At the end of the day, it’s all that really matters, and as long as you have that— then I say you have more than enough.

The winds of change
Can rock your boat
And often get our goat
When you try to stay afloat

When you think you got it made
Lack of hope will make you jade
The careful plans you have laid
May start to fade 

You wanted something that would show
You were here when it is time to go
Actions of many a foe
Will sometimes lay your plans low 

It may be hard to find our way
As we trudge through each day
No matter how we want to stay
omeday we must all go away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9bk0hEXTIw

Jesus was walking around Heaven one day and noticed a man crying. He said "here now there's no reason to cry or be sad in the kingdom of Heaven. What seems to be the matter"? The man said "I once had a son that came to me uhh hum, in a mysterious way and I haven't seen him in a long time. I thought here I might find him but he's nowhere to be found". Jesus said "by chance you weren't a carpenter were you"? The man said "why yes, yes I was". Jesus held out his arms and said "father". The man doubtfully looked at him and said "Pinocchio"?????

A POEM   @Nov 5 2023 by jane_and.the_dragon

EMOTIONALLY EXAUSTED
PHYSICALLY DERAINED
NO PLACE TO RUN
TO HIDE FROM THE PAIN


YOU TRY TO DO YOUR BEST
PUT ALL YOU GOT INTO IT
TRY TO HELP ALL YOU CAN
JUST TO FIND OUT YOU BLEW IT 


THE FUTURE LOOKS BLEAK
AND YOU CAN’T SEE THE WAY
IT MAKES YOU WONDER
SHOULD I GO OR SHOULD I STAY 


THERE WAS GOOD IN THE PAST
THAT QUITE IS TRUEYOU SIT NOW AND WONDER
WILL THE GOOD COME BACK TO YOU 
YOU ARE FRIGHTENED MOST OF THE TIME


BUT NO ONE REALLY CARES
HOW YOU FEEL
TO SO MANY PEOPLE IF IT HAPPENS ON THE NET
CAN NOT BE REAL

 
PEOPLE FORGET
THERE IS NO NEED TO BE MEANA
A REAL PERSON IS BEHIND
EACH COMPUTRER SCREAN 


YOU HAVE PREOBLEMS
YOU NEVER WANTEDYOUR PATH IS NEVER CLEAR
SOMETIMES YOU WONDER
IF YOU WILL BE HERE NEXT YEAR

All my life i have been different then mopst people, and when i try to explain it sometimes i get weird looks. I found a book written by a doctor on you tube, and I posted the link to it on my wall. If anyone really wants a clue about what makes me tick, they should listen to this book. About 80% of wht she talks about applies to me and always has. I have known I was an empath for about 30 years, but when you try to explain to people wha that is, they look at you like you should be in a padded room. Most people who have this: I am not sure how i shuld call it some call it a gift, some call it a talent, some call it an ability. Me i see it as a curse. My lifew would have been so much simpliar, if I newver had it. I can not get rid of it. It is just something I am stuck with. People in my own family do not understand me, and why i react to things the way i do, but if any of you take the time to really listen to the book on that link, maybe, just maybe, you will understand why I do some of the things I do that bug people. Think about it people.

The Alpha Claims a Mate Is the book I just stayed up all night listening to this first instalment pof the blood moon shifter series. This is an exelent shifter book with just a tiny s&m twist to the plot. Red wolf shifter goes on vacation to a small town where she encounters the grey wolf shifter shariff of the town at a club. She finds him arrogent and bossy, so when he tells her to dance with him instead of asking her to, she tells him no and sets off an incident between the two packs. The alpha of the girls pack called her and told her she was to stay there for the next 2 weeks and be the assistant to the alpha she offended.
They were eah others faited mates, but the alpha that she was fated to had a wild side and not in the treditional shifter way. In the end of the book there were planns for her to stay with him and they would get married. If you like shifter books with just a little s&m this is the book for you. I plan to go back later when i have the whole set of this series and listen to this one again. 5 stars

Found this on prntrest. I did not write it, but i love it.

1. When you can’t control what’s happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what’s happening. That’s where your power is.Here’s a friendly reminder that you can’t control external events; the only thing you can control is yourself.   You can’t control the tides, but you can learn how to sail.

2. Success hits differently when nobody believes in you.That’s why you have to keep going. We are brainwashed into thinking that everyone should believe in us for our project to succeed. The truth is that others’ beliefs don’t affect the probability of our success.

3. Priority: If someone is really into you, you don’t have to keep begging them for a text, call, or to spend time. They will do it if you are a priority. Always remember that.Don’t lose your self-respect because of love. If people want to be with you, they will be.  If they don’t, they will make excuses.

4. The biggest risk is not taking any risk.Calculated risks always change our lives and how we perceive things. We experience new things we never knew because of the risks we take. But there’s no bigger risk than not taking any at all. You’ll remain the same with no growth, and that’s the worst risk you don’t want to take.            

5. Exterior beauty, without the depth of a kind soul is merely decoration.A beautiful face without a beautiful soul is hell decorated as heaven. Don’t assume that just because a person is beautiful on the outside means they have a good personality. Some of the most beautiful people I’ve met are those you really don’t want to work with.

6. Worry about your character, not your reputation. Your character is who you are, your reputation is who people think you are. Guard your reputation because it always precedes you, but care more about your character. You don’t want to live your entire life with two faces – the persona you present to the public and who you really are.

7. Things that break your heart are the same things that open your eyes.how painful your first breakup was, but also remember how insightful you became about deception.  We don’t actively use our brains when we heavily rely on our hearts.
8. Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.Don’t lower your standards in life just because someone expects you to.  Maintaining higher standards leads to a better life.  Why would you want to lower your standards just to please someone who may not stay with you forever? Think again.

9. The quieter you become, the more you can hear.They always say that the highest form of intelligence is to observe without judging.  Observing involves listening, and listening involves being quiet.

10. When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.