Love is a funny emotion. You can feel it, see it, want it, give it, hate it and be grateful for it. You can wish you were in love or wish you could stop loving someone because you know it’s time to stop. Or you can wish you still loved someone because it would be the wise thing to do. 
Love is magical and confusing. It’s just not the same for everyone. 

For several years I have written a yearly February article on love. And three years ago, Mary Beth and I wrote a book about it, Living Brave…In Love, Stories of Intimacy Lost and Found.  It's a great collection of love stories and was an eye-opener for both of us…we thought we knew much about love!  Worth the read. Especially the novelette in the center of the book, The Two Night Stand. Another confusing story of being loved, losing love, finding love, absolving love.  

I read an article in The Epoch Times, by Joshua Becker in the Mind & Body Section: ‘You Can’t Quite Buy Happiness, but Almost. Researchers have found there are specific ways to spend your money if you want to increase happiness.’ I would love to share the entire piece with you, but I can’t (it’s plagiarism). But instead, will present the heart of the article. I found it relevant to beginning a new year with the question, can we buy happiness?
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I’ve often said, money can’t buy happiness, but money can give us choices. I have struggled financially in my life where a bit of money would have presented better choices and put a happy smile on my face, but instead it planted seeds for happier times to come as well as an appreciation of the money when it came. 

Most Pluma clients know her as Samantha. Her official name is Ibtisam Nisan. She was born in Iraq thirty-nine years ago. At the age of nine, along with her mother and four siblings, they escaped from Iraq and the warfare of Saddam Hussein.

Along with hundreds of others, Samantha’s family walked for several days until they reached Turkey. While the people walked, many carrying their children and whatever belongings they could hold, American planes dropped food and water to keep them alive. She remembers little about this walk, except they were frightened, cold, wet from rain and they were exhausted and their mother kept them moving forward. 

​Celebrating Thanksgiving this year will be a new experience for most of us. Our lives have taken a detour and reconstructing and reassembling our lives has become a priority as we move toward the end of this year. But we are seeing and experiencing some sense of a new version of normality evolving and we will find our rhythm once again. As humans, we depend on inspiration, routines and relationships, not only to survive but to thrive.  Our history has left a footprint of our comebacks, rebirths and amazing successes through our customs and relations. And through it all, a sense of grace eventually arrives, and we will once again enjoy the beauty of gathering in our lives. 

Recently I came across the newest data on longevity. Who lives longer? What factors effect longevity? The most interesting research I found on longevity came from Julianne Holt-Lunstad a BYU professor of Psychology. Here is a snippet of her research interests: “There is now robust evidence of the protective effects of social relationships both on morbidity and on mortality, with a magnitude of effect comparable with many well-established risk factors such as smoking cessation and obesity. My program of research examines the influence of both the quantity and the quality of social relationships on long-term health and on risk for mortality, and the biological pathways (e.g., cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, genetic) by which such associations may occur. I also consider the potentially detrimental influence of negativity in close relationships (e.g., ambivalence, marital distress). My studies have examined social relationships at a network level, among married couples, in mother-and-infant relationships, and within friendships.” 

I must confess as optimistic as I am about life in general and the future of our world, these past months have been a bit challenging keeping the light of hope alive daily.
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Each morning I review my gratitude list and add a few more for good measure. Some days I had to stretch a bit until I found that ray of hope on which to build. 
Then, one morning, after skyping with my son and grandson Finn, I realized I was looking too hard and in all the wrong places. Hope is everywhere around us. It is especially in the young ones who surround us. 

Who are the Baby boomers: They are the demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is most often defined as individuals born between 1946 and 1964, during the post-World War II baby boom. The boom has been described as “shockwave” and as “the pig in the python”, in particular, 76 million Americans were born during this timeframe.  The term “the pig in the python” refers to a sharp statistical increase represented as a bulge in an otherwise level pattern, used especially with reference to the baby-boom generation regarded as having a profound effect on consumer spending, society, etc. as they grow older. No matter who you are, what you do, or where you live in the world, your life has been touched by the inventive, smart and risk-taking cleverness of the baby boomers.

I love celebrating the 4th  of July. Not only is it the anniversary of America's independence, it’s also a reminder for people of their infinite desire for freedom! Freedom of speech, to gather, to worship, etc. etc. We are indeed a country of freedoms.
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That is who we are in America; a gathering of people who demand their independence. Our ancestors, no matter what continent they came from, expected to find freedoms to support their greatest dreams and desires. Certainly, my parents, coming from Mexico expected to have the freedom America promised; to live in a country of opportunities. To work hard and to prosper and live in a democratic society of honest rules and principles and a constitution that would protect their rights. 

My son Ron is a special man. He is by no means perfect. Both his wife and I certainly know his shortcomings and overly sensitive, creative, quick to react nature. We know when he is in a sensitive tenor and we notice when he is loving us with all his protective heart. Passionate, as an artist and loyal to his word, he is serious about being a thoughtful husband, a good friend and an exceptional father. 

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
African Proverb                                             

Six months ago, we celebrated my 50th anniversary in the beauty industry. I throw the number ‘50’ around as if it was just a number. The truth is, it’s a life-time of building ‘together’. 
And the best way to appreciate what we have is to have it taken away. Whether losing a job or a loved one, planned events canceled, church services suspended, or unable to grocery shop, most of us depend on others to experience our satisfying lives. The liberty to unite, travel and congregate is a birth right, at least in most countries, especially the United States, where we were founded on the principles of freedom. People find each other and form relations big and small, as varied as book clubs, meetups, AA Meetings, hiking groups and bible studies. There is no question about it, we need each other to survive, grow and flourish.