Lil Ole Me - We live by the seeds of our plants by Dan Cloutier Day after day it so often seems like one day is very much like the other, doesn’t it? …Then one looks back over say 3 or 5 years and sees quite clearly how little changes have cumulated to big changes! Ironic how we start small and wrinkled and go right back to something of that state day by day. Ashes to ashes, cue ball head to cue ball head. Diapers to diapers and the tiny grains of time/sand are relentless. Between ashes to ashes we measure a life well lived by a collection of precious memories. Some have collected more than others. “Happiness, not in another place but this place… not for another hour, but this hour” said Walt Whitman In giving you receive Here is a version of a prayer found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta: If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. God helps those who help themselves.

What can little little me do inch by inch, figuratively rooting with grains of sand and soil, by sharing strength with drops of water, by leveraging the wind into inner strength? It is said a community prospers when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit under. Figuratively what trees have I planted? “The purpose of life is not just to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson. In giving you receive, if nothing more for your collection of precious, positive memories. …Then one looks back over say 3 or 5 years and sees quite clearly how little changes have cumulated to significant changes!