Jack Finds True Love

 My one-eyed cat, Jack, has found true love.

He's moved from synchronized napping to obvious displays of tender cat affection. 

He can't nap without her. 

He's come so far:  from wounded, broken, unable to meow or purr to true companionship.

It's adorable to watch.  Adorable things inspire great delight.  They charm.  The world needs more adorable moments to charm us back to simple delight.

Cats hugging: a little delight on a cold, heavy morning. 


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Did you see something adorable today?

A Pen of One's Own

My youngest asks if she can have a pen of her very own.  We're standing in the check-out line of the grocery store, and we notice a pack of ball-point pens. 

"What would you do with a pen of your own?" I ask.

"I would have so much fun!" she says.  "I would write my name one hundred times with my own pen!"  

"Yes," I say.  "You can have a pen of your own."

I think about all the ways you grow as a person and as a writer.  One day, you press the pen to the page, and it begins.  It always begins somewhere, even if it's just writing your own name down in ink.  This is me, myself, written right here. 

It's quiet in the house because a little writer is writing with her own pen. 

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Did you have a childhood object that symbolized something so important? 

The Book You Would Write in 2012

I decide to skim my journals from 1993 till now.  Then I reread some blog posts from 2010 till now.  This takes all morning, three cups of coffee, and patience reading all the recorded tantrums between me and God.

I realize that these journals tell a story with a theme and a purpose.  

By the time I've finished, I've read a memoir of a girl's search for. . . something.  And in 2008, she finds what she's looking for.  It was a neighborhood.  Real community.  It sounds basic, boring, and obvious.  But to me, it wasn't basic.  It isn't boring.  It was a secret hidden within and obscured by my longing for fame and wealth. 

How could an anonymous neighborhood be the end of the search?  Why and how would God deposit me in Central Pennsylvania and make all my dreams come true in a little neighborhood? 

Living with flair means asking yourself the story your life is telling.  Now, this is the book I would write in 2012.  Would you read it? 

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What story is your life telling?