• Coffee and a Map

“I want someone to look at me the way I look at coffee.”

One of the best gifts I received during quarantine was coffee and a map, two tools needed to navigate through the morning rush hour in the house.

• How did the Hamburger introduce his wife?  Meat Pattie.

• Elephant Ear Dwarf Alocasia

“When you find love and marry and bring that precious one home, plant one seed and watch.  Water it, weed it, cherish it, sun it, shade it, spritz it and watch it grow.  Watch when it stands and when it droops, watch what makes it alive, and note what makes it thrive.  Then look at your love and do that much more.  When you have a child, take another seed and together repeat the process.”  Mistofer Christopher

The Elephant Ear Dwarf Alocasia is a lot to type out but is a beautiful indoor plant, easy on the eye, an air purifier and a nice part of my routine to care for a living thing to keep mentally sane. (Exercise care as it is toxic to dogs, cats and people).  I started out with 6 leaves and now I have only two, but they are two tall, beautiful leaves.  I have learned that, if you care for a plant by watering it and giving it exactly what it needs, not full sun but partial, not soaking soil but damp, not just heat but humidity, not just silence but words, it rewards you with growth and fullness and air.  Imagine what you can do for those you love when you water them!

• Talk About The Monster,  the App

“When you Talk About The Monster, you bring him down to size.” Mistofer Christopher

According to the KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation)*, an organization that tracks national health mentioned that parents with children ages 5-12 reported that children showed elevated symptoms of depression (4%), anxiety (6%), and psychological stress (9%), and experienced overall worsened mental or emotional health (22%).  Parents of children attending school virtually were more likely to report their children experienced overall worsened mental or emotional health than parents of children attending school in-person (25% vs. 16%, respectively).  This scholarly article gave numbers for what we all sensed.  If we as adults are facing so much psychological and mental stress, our little ones are smothered and smelted by this pandemic.  I’m so happy to have released this year during Mental Health Wellness month “Talk About the Monster”, an interactive, whimsical and fun children’s story app for kids ages 5-11…and beyond to help our children take a little big step to face fear and anxiety…

Part 6 next week. What is your life hack, blessing, good dad joke from the decade 2020? Comment below.