Simplicity

"The best things in life aren't things." - Art Buchwald

Animals bring me such comfort. My whole life I've been an animal fanatic, and now I watch them slowly begin to heal my family from a difficult situation. Both the animals in the picture are rescues from the humane society, and that cat has more personality than any animal I've ever owned. They are both very spoiled and loved, but especially him.

Recently I started watching a series on Viceland call Abandoned. I marathon watched the entire season. This is the kind of television that I like to watch because it explores social changes and digs deeper into the changing world around us. A lot of people from outside the United States have been watching what's happening here and are confused. To them, they have no idea why people are wanting "to make America great again".

I lived in South America for 3 years doing volunteer work, and being an American there made me a bit of a rock star. Just because of where I came from, people admired me. After the 3 years of living there, I came back to the U.S. and was grateful for the simple things, like reliable, clean, running water. But life in the U.S. has changed in the mere 20 years since I've moved back, and while it is still much better than many other countries, Abandoned shows a shocking side of the American life style that most people abroad don't know about, and has been very hard to explain.

That being said, I think the reason people here are unhappy here has nothing to do with who they are blaming, and watching the rising wave of hatred, distrust, and violence is alarming, to put it mildly. It's giving me anxiety that's for sure. To balance it out I spend time cuddling my animals and being outside, loving my family and having faith in God.

Sometimes, you just need to breathe, and be grateful for that!