I’ve had this five year plan that I’ve followed now for two years. I’ve got three years left, and there are periods of time that I forget what I’m striving for.

Then I’ll have one of those days.

Working retail sucks. I think everyone should have to work in retail for one year so that they understand how to act when they go shopping. This year, after the pandemic started, has been the roughest.

Lately, I’ve had a few days where I’m ready to walk away. I’ve recently received a promotion, and with that comes a lot more responsibility. I’m…

It is so easy for people to stand on their side of the fence line and wish they had what was on the other side. What is hard is to focus on your own side and appreciate and improve what is there.

This is true of almost every aspect of your life.

For example, we own five acres. When we bought the house and land it had sat abandoned for over twenty years and was a jungle. The house next door sits on four acres. It’s well taken care of. The trees that are there are ones they want and…

I’ve been on my vacation for a week now, and it is absolutely killing me to be away from my garden.

There’s something peaceful about strolling through beds of plants that I grew and nurtured. Every morning I would wake up and take my coffee down to the garden and walk through the beds.

I’d watch the bees zoom from blossom to blossom and as much as they terrify me, I stand back and let them do their job. My heart would beat a little faster when I’d find something new growing that hadn’t been there the day before.

Sometimes it’s fun to look back on some of the pieces I’ve written here over the years. Since more than half of what I earn comes from my backlog of stories, I thought I’d go way back and I came across a few that I remember writing that I really like.

These three stories remind of something important. I do some of my best writing using picture prompts.

Finding a picture that sparks my creativity makes the story just fly out of my mind and the words come easy. …

I’ve been writing on Medium for a few years now and despite the changes, I’m not planning on stopping any time soon.

Like a lot of other writers here, I enjoy reading when others share their numbers that they’ve hit here. Some are huge, which gives the rest of us a glimmer of hope, while others are dismal which makes us question our strategies.

So, here are my numbers.

In May I made (drumroll please…)

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$1.78

Yup. Not even enough to pay for a large coffee. Actually, not even a medium one.

Before you begin to…

Another long tedious week over, all I could think about was getting out of the office and somewhere I could breathe. The phone rang and I glanced over at the wall clock to make sure I could go ahead and let the answering machine get it.

I grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair, scooped the briefcase off the floor and left the building. Heat simmered off the pavement of the parking lot as I made my way to the car.

The fresh air wasn’t enough. I rubbed my chest wishing that I was somewhere cooler, somewhere quieter…

Growing up, I knew I had it good. I had two parents who not only loved me and my siblings with everything they had, but they also loved each other and had no issue showing it.

I remember being a teenager watching them walk down the sidewalk in front of me. I’d hang back because… it’s so not cool to hang with the folks, right? I’d watch their hands swing between them, firmly clasped together and I’d roll my eyes.

As I matured though, just that simple gesture warmed my heart. By that time, half of my friend’s parents had…

I’m on my annual trip to visit my parents. This year is different though. This year I have dreaded this vacation because I know that it may be the last one I take while my mom still remembers who I am.

It’s hard talking to my dad, hearing about the daily struggles he goes through. My heart breaks for him. It didn’t really sink in though until I got here and saw for myself.

My mom was a great mom. She still is. She gives me hugs as often as she can and tells me how much she loves me…