The Jamie Reports

Today's post is not a laugh-out-loud one like the others. Click "archives" on the left if you need something like that. Today's post is me sharing a change I made over the past year that has significantly improved my life. I can't help but share it. And, true to one of the points of this entire blog, I believe the changes described can dramatically "dismantle anxiety." Thank you for reading! -- I have a challenge for all of you. Details below!! 😊 Roughly half of my friends think I am bonkers. The other half seem to respect my gradual shift into minimalism. Here’s how it all started: I decided to downsize about a year ago. I had been living in a three-bedroom two-and-a-half bath three-story townhouse with double car garage. I was single for the majority of the time I lived there. I had no pets and, at that time, not even a plant to care for (Side note: I have a Peace lily now that is my little pride and joy!). There were rooms I did not even e...

This story really does make me laugh out loud! I hope you have the same response. My dad was a cook for the majority of his life. And everybody knew him! He threw his hand up waving at people left and right. I loved that about my dad; he was charismatic but so so humble and gentle. He was a good man. When he retired from cooking, it wasn’t long before he got bored. So, in his 70's he took on a paper route! My mom was still a nurse at the time, but, on most days, she would help out as well. They would leave early (like 2 AM early) to deliver papers. When I would visit, I would accompany them and, to be honest, these are some of my most cherished memories. One of my favorite parts of these adventures happened near the end of each trip. We would make a pit stop at this same little gas station ( Wilco at Bassett Forks, VA) and daddy would always buy us a pastry and we would sip coffee and eat that pastry on our morning break. It was so simple and so absolutely perfect. W...

My 26-year battle w ith indigestion Not exactly the most promising first-liner for a post on a blog about putting smiles on people’s faces, but, consider this particular entry a public service announcement!!  😊      Something must have happened to milk around 1992. I can remember as a child my mom serving milk with every meal; even heavy meals like spaghetti came with a tall glass of milk. I drank vast amounts of it with my morning (and afternoon and evening) cereal without ever a care in the world. But then, 1992 arrived and all of a sudden, I became down-right ill by the drinking of it. Not only that, but with most meals and snacks I found myself feeling sick. I can recall when, in my early 20's, every single meal I consumed was accompanied with indigestion. I could not escape it. The occurrences did not ease with age; I think I just became adept at planning for these times. Continuously devising strategies to escape meetings and immediately surveying...

I was probably seven years old when this happened in the summer months of the early-to-mid 80’s. Daddy had decided to load a brand-new air conditioner into the window of the second story of our home. The details of the first part of this story are a little blurry in my mind; the details of the second part are as sharp as a tack. For whatever reason (we likely had no ladder tall enough) daddy decided to install the window unit in the upper half of the large window by hanging out of the bottom half with my older brother holding him in place from the inside. In hindsight, I’m sure he realized the questionable wisdom in this tactic, but, life is not experienced in hindsight. My older brother was a teenager at the time. He was doing a great job holding dad in place. But, something happened. Something happened that, if you grew up before the 90's and the proliferation of mobile phones and texting and the like, you might more clearly understand. You see, teenagers back then coul...