Wow .. I’m dumbfounded. I have a suspicion that my ex-wife wrote a bad review of my book on Amazon. I am not one to judge or condemn anyone and I learned to not say anything unless it was kind and caring. There is so much hardship in the world for reasons we can not control so why spend time causing hardships of our own?

And of course, there are other writers better than me. I welcome any feedback to help me improve my prose. Our minds are human and there is always room for improvement and ways of thinking and doing things in any profession. One learns by doing, trying, making mistakes and trying again. I’ve written since I was a child, for myself, to help me understand life and those around me, for the synaptic rush of joy that follows after writing and then reading a heartwarming passage. Our lives are a combination of all things and our joy is our perception of all things we can see, touch, feel and experience.

And now I am thinking, well maybe I’m not dumbfounded at all. I loved my wife and enjoyed many years of marriage, home and children and all the joy that goes along with having a family. It was not always easy, but when two cooperate and love each other and contribute to the whole of the life shared, love, prevails. There is much happiness and security being in a fold that each of us create. Families survive, thrive and find their way into the years that follow. Collaboration and love for one another are paramount.

Relationships do; however, fail. All of us have experienced this at one point in our lives. For those who can stay the course in marriage or a long-term relationship till death do we part, my heart rejoices in your success. Penguins mate for life, Beavers, Wolves, Gibbons, Swans, Albatrosses, French Angelfish to name a few. Humans … eh, not often. This is sad, but this is life. Our noggins are advanced and partner choice wins over simple survival, for reasons that change throughout our life.

Our intellect is both our success and failure … emotions flutter and disorganize us throughout our lives. It is in the seeing and knowing and loving of each other in all of our states that is the true love, the true life, we all long to have.

The book Hold Me tries to explain the hows and whys of being human, and finding joy, love and caring for one another. It is a personal story and a loving one. I’m not Ernest Hemingway or Robert Frost, or Jack London, but humbly … In All Our Years … and not just my years, but all of our years.

Writers write for themselves, to feel, to learn, to share and to find way in this wild world of ours. If others find joy in the writings, then good for them. Each of us affect one another, whether a spoken word, a post or comment, a poem or something more .. being there in person for someone, sharing in a difficulty or happy day, a sunrise, a sunset, a new child, witnessing a seed push up through the darkness into the waiting light above … your light, our light. ❤

May each of you find stars and joy in all you do and in the relationships you encounter and remember to Hold each other in kind ways, always … and remember one star is a still a star.