Whenever someone asks me why I write about twins, I almost giggle. Not because it is a silly question but because it wasn’t my choice.
Let me explain.
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One of the toughest questions to answer only has three words.
Many of you will try to guess. Don’t bother. Chances are excellent you will not come close to figuring it out. Before you move on, let’s try a few hints. The first one would be the adjective esoteric.
The second? The question could be considered a philosophical topic.
And the final clue? It includes a pronoun.
Had enough with guessing? The three words the form the ultimate question is:
Who Are You?
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One of my favorite parts of being a writer is doing the research behind my stories. Often, the story line seems to fall into my lap. Currently writing the middle section of my “Call to Adventure” third novel of the Rose Toffoli trilogy, I began researching the Resistance, specifically in Paris and Lyon. Both cities had an underground movement of French Citizens and collaborators who fought against the Nazi occupation and the cooperating Vichy Regime during World War II from the summer of 1940 into 1945. With help from the ousted government, the group organized and helped downed airplane pilots escape from France back to London, they rescued orphaned children and evacuated Jews while secretly publishing newspapers and providing intelligence to the Allied Forces.
It is an understatement to express how incredibly moving it was to read and listen to ordinary people doing extraordinary things with courage and bravery.
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What’s In a Number?
At some point on my journey into understanding and conquering the mystical, numbers started to cross my radar screen and capture my attention. Of course, the symbology was always there, it just did not occur to me to pay much consideration to it. When my father died in the late seventies from a car accident on Friday the 13th, the idea became viable. Traditionally in our culture, most of us choose to believe that the 13th is a potentially unlucky number. There is not a year that goes by that I do not stop and reflect that he lost his life on that day, on that solitary road in Happy, Texas.
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Discipline. Most people have an idea of what that means. Some see it as necessary, while others see it as work. Or a chore. Something that requires attention.
A great deal of you will see it on the spectrum of negative practices. It is often inflicted to correct a behavior that is undesirable. Being sent to detention or an after-school program like in the iconic movie, The Breakfast Club, with the eighties Brat Pack. It is a must see.
Anyway, imposing discipline is a practice that has been in place for thousands of years.
Discipline was invented for those who did not follow rules, usually set by the church.
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One truth the pandemic taught me was to let go.
To give up, say goodbye, and step back from all that no longer matters in my life. It has become a time
to embrace what is working. It feels remarkable.
Over the last sixteen months, I have literally changed my personality. Every morning upon awakening,
instead of jumping out of bed and taking a shower, or turning on the news, I take a few moments to
review all the elements of my life that deserve my gratitude. High on my list is my legs, my heart, my
brain, my feet and hands. All the body parts that make my existence meaningful.
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What Would I tell my 21-year-old self?
Over the years I remember saying to myself, “If I had only known then, when I was younger, what I know now, I would so much further ahead of the game.”
Looking back, these are the ten things I would tell my younger self.
Stop worrying about what you cannot control. This includes other people’s opinion of you, and other people’s actions. No one can define you or control you except yourself. So, look in the mirror and tell your body and mind how grateful you are for them both and how essential it is that they work together.
Incubus.
One of the vilest words in the English language.
Even the vibration of the word gives me the creeps. The feminine version, succubus, is just as disgusting.
For those of you who do not know which either are, let me simplify it for you. The dictionary classifies it as a noun: a male demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women.
Unbelievable right? It gets better.