• Illustration of older lady waving.
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    I’ve been old (but not necessarily wise) my whole life

    I’ve been thinking a lot about aging lately. I just turned 43, and that plants me firmly in middle agedom. But in reality, I think I’ve been old my whole life. Age vs. Maturity Interesting/Funny story: My mom visited a psychic for fun when I was a small child, and I didn’t hear about it until I was older. The lady told my mom some things that were hard to hear, like that my dad would die from the cancer he was fighting. Another thing she told my mom was about me. She described me as a “little adult” who was well-spoken and would grow up to be artistic. The…

  • Insurance policy on a clipboard shielded by an umbrella
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    And They Didn’t Even Buy Us Dinner First: Property Insurance Woes

    Property insurance is necessary if you own a car or a home, especially if you have a loan or mortgage. But it’s also a flawed system that punishes you for using the coverage you’ve paid for. Surviving without health insurance is difficult, too, and I don’t even want to get into what’s wrong with the state of healthcare in the United States. Finding insurance coverage Shopping for insurance coverage is easy if you’ve never had a claim and just want to save some money. You can go online to compare rates of major and not-so-major companies and choose the one with the best price and coverage. Often, there’s a discount…

  • Snoopy thinking he has a pretty good life.
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    A Lesson in Gratitude

    There’s always something to be grateful for, even in the darkest of times. One of my goals for 2024 (and beyond) is to maintain an attitude of gratitude no matter what life throws at me. Life’s thrown a lot at me lately, especially with property insurance woes, which I will write about as soon as the situation is resolved. What’s kept me sane is my therapist’s advice to focus on gratitude to drown out the bad thoughts. Sometimes it feels easier to complain In the daily grind, it’s easy to focus on the negative. Maybe you overslept, the kids are cranky, or your dog puked on the rug. There’s always…