A Breakdown Toward Better Understanding

When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, there’s no escaping the pressure to comply here in the U.S. With pop-up information sources on every internet search & social media interaction, as well as signs and speaker announcements in every store, it’s fairly impossible to miss the societal push to get out there and get yerself that oh-so-coveted injection.

On the side of the vaccine agreeable people, there are two main camps. The loudest of all the groups are the vaccine promoters who use guilt, shame, judgment, and mockery as a method to belittle the vaccine-cautious…

One of the greatest gifts in my life is having beloved friends and family who hold political beliefs which oppose mine. The reason is — it holds me accountable for my own self-righteousness. It helps me to stop judging them, and to remember that loving these people is more important than being “right”. As a former Republican, one of the most shocking realizations I’ve had from being in online unity groups, was hearing former Democrats admit that they believed their party was “morally superior” to Republicans. When I step back and look at the bigger picture (I wish more people…

The strangest life experience ever, must be when two people walk into a hospital, and leave the hospital as three people.

The fact that sex, pregnancy, popping out a baby, and suddenly becoming a parent, is commonplace, does not make any of it “ordinary”. Nor does its frequency among our fellow planet inhabitants make it less shocking when it’s our turn for the experience.

Whoa, Baby!

When a woman first gets a hint she might be pregnant, it can be exciting, scary and maybe anxiety-inducing, if the pregnancy wasn’t intended. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of purchasing and using a pregnancy…

If you’ve ever read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman, you know it’s one of the greatest books out there, for defining the ways people give and receive affection or love. Chapman explains that out of the five main ways of expressing affection toward those we care about, we all have a primary and secondary means. They are: acts of service, gift giving, quality time, touch, and words of affirmation. With all of these, attention is required.

Sometimes, in a relationship, if one person is a gift giver and the other needs to hear love words verbally, there can…

DoorDashing (as well as all the other app delivery services) is all the rage for the unemployed or underemployed these days. Worldwide pandemic or not, people still need food. And thank goodness for delivery drivers!

For dashers, It’s easy to get started. The app is brilliant, the money is usually “okay” and sometimes even good, and dashers can make their own schedule. Delivery drivers of all types (Postmates, Instacart, Grubhub, UberEats) vary widely in age, need and motivation.

Not to disparage the growing work ethic of today’s teenagers, but the majority of DoorDashers I’ve seen on my own doorstep as…

Lust and infatuation can make us do some crazy things. You might know he has a reputation as a player, and has mysterious notches on the steering wheel, but when he moves in for a kiss, your brain turns to mush. Or she might give you ample reason not to trust her, with her flipped over phone, alerts night and day, and FB comments dripping with intimate knowledge, but her scent and curves wipe all those cares away.

Unless you’re a rare human who doesn’t need to feel special in the love department, however, dropping all your boundaries (or worse…

What is a Rigger?

Riggers are parachute professionals, trained and licensed to pack and repair parachutes for military and civilian, recreational and sport skydiving purposes.

In the military, riggers are trained by their military branch around the world, to support their paratrooper forces and for aerial supply and equipment parachute delivery. In the civilian world, riggers are certified by national aviation authorities like the FAA (Federal Aviation Authorities) in the US. In most countries, there are at least 2 levels of rigger ratings, such as the senior and master levels in the United States.

Recreational skydivers can rest assured their backup parachute, called a…

I did 5 tandems skydives over a period of 5 spread out years before I made the giant mental leap to accept the ludicrous idea of becoming a licensed skydiver.

It was only after my last tandem instructor asked with sincere confusion, “Instead of spending the money for all these tandem jumps, why don’t you become a licensed skydiver?”

My response was to laugh since I thought he was joking. His expression didn’t change. I realized he was serious.

So…

I responded, “Well, because moms don’t become skydivers,” as if that was a reasonable answer.

I tried to shake the…