Jennifer Goble

I'm a big fan of volunteering if it's someone else. I've done a lot of it in my life, and I decided there is something wrong with showing up, getting bossed around, and not getting paid. If someone wants to pay me, they've earned the right to tell me everything I do wrong—otherwise they don't.

Maybe it's because of the storms we've been having lately, but I've been thinking about home maintenance and wondering if there is a correlation between how we care for our homes and how we care for ourselves.

Outside my window, I watch a doe with twin fawns. Mom is standing guard, and the twins are bouncing, jumping, and running. Adorable.

A friend read a quote by Viktor Frankl on an art bench I painted during the pandemic: “Those who have a ‘why' to live can bear with any ‘how'.”

I reread a book, “Siddhartha,” about a fictional man by the same name who spent his life trying to get to the core of who he was as a man, son, friend, and father.

This article was published in January of 2021. More than five years have passed, and other than the COVID reference, it still feels relevant.

I'm reading old, wonderful books from my bookshelf. I have given hundreds, literally hundreds, of books away in my lifetime. I promised myself I would never buy another one, and then I can't resist. Those that have survived my moves are priceless possessions, and this week I pulled “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” a story by Richard Bach. I have a signed first edition—1970.

I've been living with my two young grandsons for a week or so, helping out while their dad is in the hospital with a staph infection after a knee replacement — I know!

My top tip is BALANCE…we must balance what we THINK, DO, and EAT. If we stay consciously connected to our minds and bodies, we can practice and achieve moderation—balance.

I usually write my column for the benefit of my readers, or do I? In honesty, I write them for me too. Writing my thoughts helps me put things in order—to make sense of what happens around me. I guess it's one reason I recommend journaling.