I have always liked the acronym K.I.S.S. It stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid” and it’s a reminder that simple is better. I used to write KISS in the margin of my notebook paper when I was in college and law school as a not-sosubtle brain whack, reminding me to keep things simple. Because you see, I have a strong tendency to not keep things simple. I always think I can get more things done than is realistic. And I have to constantly fight against this tendency.

Mental fitness exam for retirees This is a mental fitness evaluation for people who are considering retirement or for those already retired and might be experiencing second thoughts. If you get one right, you are doing OK.

regularly celebrating an annual Thanksgiving holiday, and in 1827 published a novel, “Northwood: A Tale of New England,” that included an entire chapter about the fall tradition, already popular in parts of the nation. While at “Godey’s,” Hale often wrote editorials and articles about the holiday and she lobbied state and federal officials to pass legislation creating a fixed, national day of thanks on the last Thursday of November – a unifying measure, she believed that could help ease growing tensions and divisions between the northern and southern parts of the country. Her efforts paid off: By 1854, more than 30 states and U.S. territories had a Thanksgiving celebration on the books, but Hale’s vision of a national holiday remained unfulfilled.

Seems like I am noticing a trend – and not a healthy one. As a whole, our nation is losing the ability to pronounce some words. In fact, people seem to have forgotten some words exist in the English language. Phrases like, “Thank you,” “Thanks so much,” “I appreciate that,” seem to have slid into a dark hole somewhere and vanished. And if you do hear those magic words spoken, it is more of an auto-reply rather than a sincere response.

Thanksgiving has become the stepchild of second half of the year holidays. We so easily slide from Fourth of July into Halloween, then take a brief respite to be thankful at Thanksgiving before stepping into Christmas and New Year’s.

You know time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems like yesterday that I was young, just married, and embarking on my new life with my mate.

Halloween is Friday night and Philip Gulley shared the thoughts of many of us when he wrote the following: For nine years, my wife and I lived in the city, down a long lane, next to the Quaker meeting I pastored. Our first Halloween, we loaded up on candy, anticipating a horde of pirates, ghosts, and witches. But the lane was dark and spooky and not one kid showed up, so for the next month, we ate mini Snickers for dessert at every meal, even breakfast. Then we moved to a small town, and carloads of urchins mobbed our home at Halloween, swarming our front door like rats on raw meat. After the first hour, we were out of candy and began emptying our cupboard to beat back the mob, doling out squares of baking chocolate, sugar cubes, packets of Sweet’N Low. When we ran out of treats, they began TP’ing our trees, soaping our windows, and igniting paper sacks of manure on our porch. It was wonderfully nostalgic, reminding me of my childhood, and I went to bed happy.

This year will be the 58th year since my graduation. I can still do everything I did in high school (in my mind).

Teaching Respect in the Family I was involved in a recent job interview when the applicant was asked this question by another staff member. “What is your one non-negotiable? The one thing you must have in a work environment?” The applicant immediately responded “Respect You can disagree with me but I do require that you respect me.

Profound proclamations concerning life When you stand in front of a classroom of children for 57 years as I so enjoyably did, you encounter all sorts of questions, mostly about your personal life and sometimes about whatever topic we might have been discussing in class. Many of the questions were very provocative, others nosy and some inspired me and others to think up some answers to use as ready replies.