Jennifer’s writing

Do you ever have days when you need a little dose of inspiration or motivation? I love reading something that speaks to me at the right moment, that speaks to something I am feeling, or that encourages me to keep pushing myself. Sometimes I am looking for words that give me a sense of peace. I decided if these words were so vital to me they could help others as well so here are some short positive vibes that I hope will lift you up, encourage you, and inspire you to do great things.

Always believe something wonderful is about to happen.

Frustration is a waste of time when you could be trying again to succeed.

Worry is wasted energy because you are stressing yourself out and draining your positivity on something that probably won’t happen.

If you need a great friend, get an animal. They will listen to you without judging, and if you feed them and scratch their bellies, they will be loyal.

You are capable of so much more than you think you are. Don’t let a negative attitude hold you back from doing epic things. Have you ever noticed that the word impossible says I’m possible?

Quality trumps quantity every time, especially with friendship.

Eliminate the toxicity in your life. If something or someone isn’t good for you, or making you better, walk away.

Be kind to yourself.

Realize that our imperfections make us more interesting.

Don’t let age define you and that includes both sides of the spectrum. Break through the notions of what is unreachable at a certain age.

You can change someone’s day with a simple smile.

Sprinkle compliments like confetti and watch people glow.

Give yourself permission to do nothing.

Keep a strong spirit and don’t let negative energy pull you down.

Dare to be different if that makes you happy.

A good sense of humor is a powerful weapon to yield against failure.

I hope this helps you. Make a list of inspiration you find here and there, and read it when you need a lift.

I was a French teacher for forty years, I lived in France during college, and I took eighteen school trips, as well as several family trips to France. I am in love with the language, the culture, and the people. My husband has only been to France three times, and they were all school trips with fixed itinerary, and the need to make sure that a group of teenagers was always present and safe. He decided that he wanted to go to Paris for our fortieth wedding anniversary. When I asked him why he chose Paris, he told me he wanted me to show him why I loved France so much. He wanted to see it the way I do. Here are a few reasons I love Paris.

The lifestyle

Life moves slower in France, and the priorities are different. The average French person has five weeks of vacation, but in The United States we value work more, and sometimes feel guilty taking those vacation days.

Life is savored, and family is a treasure. Families eat together and spend time together.

Food is one of the great pleasures in life, and its preparation is an art form.

Traditions

Change comes slower in France, and traditions are treasured.

Bookstores

I am an avid reader, and Paris has bookstores on every corner. They are the kind of bookstores with nooks and crannies where you can explore old books.

Side streets

I love that you can be on a street where you feel crushed by people, and you only need to turn down a side street to be in an oasis of quiet.

History

There is history all around you. You don’t have to travel far to see a famous monument with a historical story attached to it.

The literature

Les Misérables, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Three Musketeers, The Red and Black, Baudelaire, Georges Sand, the list of amazing authors is long.

The beauty of the city

There are so many beautiful spots to stop and enjoy. One of my favorites is the Luxembourg Gardens. There is so much going on in one spot. You will see runners, people walking their dogs, tennis, biking, ponies, miniature sailboats, a small lake, beautiful flowers and fountains, a playground, a food stand, pétanque, and even a small vineyard.

The Latin Quarter

This is my favorite part of the city. It includes Notre Dame, The Luxembourg Gardens, The Pantheon, St. Chapelle, and many other important spots. I love bringing people to St. Chapelle. It is a medieval church built by Louis IX. When you walk into the bottom level you will be underwhelmed, and maybe slightly disappointed, but walk up the winding, well-worn stairs, and you will see why St. Chapelle is so special. The stairs bring you out into a room of floor to ceiling-stained glass. It is breathtaking. I remember when my friend Bob saw it for the first time, and he said, “I’m going to need a minute.”

I feel like I have grown up with Notre Dame as my favorite monument. It is my symbol of both France and faith. I never thought it could be destroyed, so the day it was burning, people came streaming into my room at school as I watched French news on the big screen. They wanted to make sure I was o.k. as I stared in shock as something that I had visited so often was going up in flames.

The people

I’m always sad when I hear someone say the French are rude. No matter where you go in the world you will encounter a few unpleasant people, but my experience in France is that the average French person will do anything to help if you need it. Once we had gotten off at a metro station I had never been to and I was a little turned around on our way to Notre Dame, so I asked a woman if she could tell me where Notre Dame was. Before she could tell me, her husband moved protectively in front of her and asked me what I wanted. I made my request again, and the husband told me. We followed them to the corner, and I listened as they discussed whether they had given me good enough directions. I had to stop to tie my shoe, so they got ahead of us. As we approached the bridge where they told us to turn, they were waiting there to make sure we turned the correct way!

Another time, I was on a school trip around Easter, and we had some younger students who were used to receiving Easter baskets. I went into a pastry/chocolate shop, told the clerk that I wanted to make Easter baskets for my students, and before I knew it, I was behind the counter in a French patisserie with the owner who was making me beautiful baskets and throwing in extra candy. She charged me very little for some very beautiful baskets.

There are times when you can tell that our stereotype has entered the room before us. I went one year with my daughters. Jess was twenty and Kait was six. When we entered a small café for lunch, our reception was slightly glacial. We were a bit tense already when Kait knocked her Orangina bottle to the floor and it shattered. Jess and I both said, “Oh, no!” Kait started to cry, and suddenly the owner was next to Kait telling her in French that it was o.k. that it wasn’t a big deal. I always try to understand why we might be received like we were initially, and I think it might be difficult when there is often a language barrier that causes frustration.

The food

I mentioned this in the culture, but French food deserves its own section. French bread is phenomenal, and you have over 300 choices of cheese to eat it with. When I sit down for a meal, I have to be careful not to order too much because there are so many amazing choices. The pastry stores are amazing which is why I gained twenty pounds when I lived in France.

I hope I can show my husband the wonders of the city, and I hope I can continue to make memories in this wonderful city.

My left knee is not cooperating with my need to run, so I began my first day of physical therapy today. During the time I was there, I was shown two important lessons. The first was whenever you have a pity party for yourself, (I have been a pity party animal!) you need to remember that there are other people with much bigger problems than yours. There were people trying to become stronger after surgery, a woman who could not stand up without feeling dizzy, and others who were there to improve their range of movement. I was hoping no one would say, “What are you in here for?” “My dog ran into my knee and it’s sore….”

The second lesson was about the importance of our mental strength. We can defeat ourselves with negative thoughts before we even have a chance to succeed. I was taken to a table in the corner, where I waited for my therapist. As I was waiting, I watched the lady next to me. Her body language was screaming her frustration, and she looked like she wanted to cry. She was being asked to pick up large marbles with her toes and put them in a box. I could tell that before she even started, she was convinced she could not do it. I hopped off my table, touched her shoulder, and said, “Don’t be frustrated. You can recover.” Later, I learned she was going to have surgery for plantar fasciitis. She had been suffering from it for a year and three months. She told me she used to be a runner, but she didn’t think she would ever recover.

Think about something you might have negative thoughts about, but that you would like to see change. What do you have to lose if you start manifesting positive change? Start saying that what you want to happen will happen. Say it every day, several times a day, and see what happens. You might have a pleasant surprise.

There are ghoulish tales told around a campfire, but the stories about real-life encounters with ghosts can be just as scary. Here are a few encounters from different places where I lived.

The neighborhood I live in now was a camp during the Civil War. Most of the people in the neighborhood have at least one story about odd happenings to tell. A psychic told me that there are ghosts coming and going all the time in my house. I have heard voices when I know that no one else is home. Lights and the television sometimes turn on or off, and the last dog we had would lie on my bed, staring at space, and growl. One of our cats often stares at the pantry as if something is there. The only scary thing I have had happen in this house is when I woke up one night and couldn’t move for a minute. I felt as if my body was frozen in place, and then I was fine. It was a very strange feeling. We once had someone spend the night to dog sit, and he told us he did not sleep at all because he heard noises all night.

Our neighbors across the street have the most stories to tell. When Paul and Beth were looking at the house, the owners explained one of the pictures to them. Tricia told Paul it was a picture of her uncle who was a soldier. Paul was walking by the picture when it slammed down. Paul picked it up and turned away and the photo slammed down again. When they were moving in, the television turned on, so Paul turned it off, but it turned on again. He unplugged it and told Beth if it turned on now, they were leaving. My daughter recently slept there to babysit the dog, and the next day, she said, “Mom, there were weird noises all night!” I said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you the house is haunted.”

The most haunted house I ever lived in was in North Georgia in the Appalachian Mountains. I worked at a boarding school where the teacher’s housing were former farmers’ houses. In one house, there was an upstairs apartment where my daughter Jess stayed. She didn’t spend any more time than she needed to up there because she said the ghost didn’t want her there. There was an eerie feeling up there. When I had to go up to clean, I used to say, “I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m only going to clean, and then I’ll leave. There were a series of cupboard doors near the floor, and one night when Jess had a friend over, the doors all opened. One morning, I had gotten up and as I walked to the stairs leading to Jessica’s room, I saw the light on, suddenly, there was a loud bang on the floor as if someone had jumped, so I thought Jess was practicing a dance routine. When I went in to wake up her brother, Jess was asleep on his floor. I said, “Jess, did you just come back down from your room?” She said, “No, I slept here all night.” “Did you leave your light on?” “No.”

My colleague’s house was even more haunted. The third floor was so bad that they boarded it up. One day, her daughter came home from school and heard people talking in the kitchen. Sara yelled, “Mom, I’m home.” The talking stopped and when Sara walked into the kitchen, no one was there.

My oldest sister had a strange incident in her house. Her husband of thirty years had recently told her that he wanted a divorce, and he had never loved her. (There was a younger woman) My mother had passed the year before. She loved my brother-in-law like a son, and the divorce would have devastated her. My sister was folding some clothes. Several were my mother’s blouses. She picked up one and there was a large blood stain over the heart. She thought maybe her husband had cut his hand and then touched the blouse, but he said he had not gone near the clothes. The same day, I noticed the glass on a picture of my sister had broken in half, and there were water marks that looked like tears.

At my sister’s funeral, one of her friends came over to me and said, “I went over to Pat’s house and took a picture. When I looked at it later, I saw this in the window. When you expand the photo, it looks like a picture of my sister before she became ill.

Have you had any strange experiences in your house?

I never thought much about the expression pennies from heaven, until I read a book about the signs that our departed loved ones leave for us. The book claimed that loved ones left pennies for us to find to let us know we are loved. After reading this I suddenly started to notice pennies in odd places. I picked one up and saw the date was the year my sister was born. I later read that the pennies sometimes had a significant date on them so you would know who it is from. The reason that pennies are the coin used is that they are light and easy to move. I researched to find out if there were other beliefs about the pennies.

Some people believe the pennies are from God.

Here is a story that can often be found on the internet.

A woman asked a man why he stooped to pick up a dirty penny on the ground. A smile crept across the man’s face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see.

‘Look at it.’ He said. ‘Read what it says.’ 
She read the words ‘United States of America ‘
‘No, not that; read further.
‘One cent?’ 
‘No, keep reading.’
‘In God We Trust?’ 
‘Yes!’ 
‘And?’

‘And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin, I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God’s way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful! 

Pennies have the numerology value of 1, so they are a reminder that we are all one. They can represent God, creation, and new beginnings.

Pennies can represent unexpected good fortune.

If we see pennies on the ground, it can comfort us to believe they are from loved ones. They are sometimes found in odd spots like on a pillow.

There are some things we did growing up that were fun at the time but might not have been the smartest things to do. I waited until I was thirty to reveal most of them to my mom. Here are a few of mine.

I grew up in front of woods where there was an old, collapsed Indian cave on one side, and the ski jump for the Eastern Junior Olympic ski jumps was on the other. I spent so many hours playing near the Indian cave, and there was a creek that ran by in front of it. It was the perfect place to put your feet in the heat of summer. Unfortunately, a lot of large snakes thought it was a perfect place too. I think they were king snakes, and I learned quickly that if I kept my distance, they would not bother me. I knew my mother would be upset, so I never mentioned that detail.

My friends and I would go to the other side of the woods and slide down the ski jump hill. If you have ever watched ski jumping, you can probably guess that sledding down one on metal is not a good idea.

When I went to study in France, everyone told us it was safe to hitchhike, so my friend and I decided we would save some money and hitchhike back from our vacation. We were picked up by a man who tried to kidnap us. When he pulled over on the road and turned around, he said, “Well, now my friends.” The doors were rigged to not open, so my friend rolled down the window and jumped out. The man started to drive away, but I was able to jump out of the window in time. We started moving down the road, and luckily, a man had seen the headlights go out, and came to see what happened. He drove us back into the city. When I returned to my host family’s home, and I told my host mom what had happened, she was furious, and said, “What would I tell your mom if something had happened?” I learned a lesson from that experience.

What are some of the things that you did growing up that were not the best plans?

I know so many people who are striving for perfection. They are desperate for people to see them as living the ideal life when the fact is that living a life behind a mask is exhausting to do.

I don’t think I ever portrayed a glimmer of perfection, but I spent too much of my time worrying about what others thought of me. I realized that what really mattered was if my loved ones and myself were doing our bests to be good people and if we were happy. I finally realized that I wasn’t going to worry about judgment anymore as my daughter Kait and I were on our way to a school awards ceremony. My husband was away on business and Kait was going to receive an award, so I asked her brother and sister to come to show family support. As Kait and I were driving there, she said, “I wonder what they will wear.” She was talking about her brother, sister, and her brother’s girlfriend. None of them dressed conservatively and Kait was worried about the impression they would make on her teachers and classmates. I decided that this could be a teachable moment, so I said, “You know what Kait? I don’t care what anyone else thinks of our family. I know we are far from perfect, but I love my children and I am going to thank them all for coming no matter what they are wearing. I have to take the theme of imperfection one step further and tell you that I was asking myself the same question that Kait was before I decided to let go of the need for approval.

It is liberating when you can admit your weaknesses, and it is fun to see how many people you can help when you share some of your struggles. When I told the story of that night, several women opened up about issues that they had in their families and how they were afraid of being judged because of them.

I would rather have friends who accept me for who I am, than someone who wants me to pretend to be someone else. Being authentic often makes others feel more comfortable to be around you.

Have you ever dreamt about a deceased family member appearing and giving you a message? Many years ago, my cousin was in an abusive relationship. When she broke it off with him, he killed both her and him. My sister and my cousin were very close, and they even looked identical. We were all devastated by what happened, and my sister was blaming herself, saying she should have told her to leave him sooner or protect herself. Several days after my cousin died, my sister was at work and she felt an overwhelming wave of fatigue. She put her head on her arms on the desk, and before she fell asleep, she said she felt someone put a hand on her head. As she was sleeping, she saw her cousin standing in front of her. She was smiling as she told my sister that what happened wasn’t her fault, and she was o.k. where she was. She told her to remember all the fun they had together instead of mourning her. When she told us the story, she said it was odd because she had never fallen asleep at her desk before.

Last night, I had a dream where my godfather Jimmie visited me. In the dream, I had missed his funeral and I was very upset. I was in a building where I worked, but it didn’t look like any place I had ever worked. I went out to the parking lot, and my godfather Jimmie was standing there waiting for me. My godparents were wonderful. They were kind and funny, and they were always so loving toward me. Jimmy was smiling at me, and he said, “It’s going to be o.k. Jen. You have some good times coming.” I should add that I went to bed having a small pity party because my whole body decided to have issues at once, and there have been lots of doctor’s visits. Uncle Jimmie hugged me, I looked down at my phone and he was gone. When I woke up, I felt like I had been wrapped up in love.

Dr. Alejandra Vasquez says the following in her article, What to Do When Deceased Loved Ones Visit in Your Dreams, “Visitation dreams are known to help you cope with your grief, loss, and sorrow. They are dreams of a deceased loved one that is so vivid that you confuse them for a visit from their ghost or spirit. Science has yet to quantify these dreams and attributes them to issues related to brain chemistry and derailed sleep cycles.

Because science has no explanation, and religious and spiritual texts only refer to them in unverifiable parables, the medical community has not taken these types of dreams seriously. Medicine generally discounts these types of ideas, and the industry leaves it up to the parapsychologists and ghost hunters to give them a paranormal meaning.”

Who knows if these are messages from loved ones or only the odd machinations of our minds in sleep, but if it leaves you feeling comforted that may be all that matters.

About a month ago my dog slammed into my leg at full speed on his way to his Frisbee. At first, I only had a nasty bruise and a sore shin, but then my knee started to become sore until I couldn’t run on it anymore. I had a short pity party because running is so important to me, and then I decided I needed an action plan so that I could strengthen my knee and come back stronger.

I started going to the chiropractor

Being adjusted after not having been to a chiropractor since 2013 helped a lot, but not enough to run. I was lucky to find one who is amazing, so I will keep going and hope that it will help.

I began to stretch more

I know how important stretching is, but I need to do more of it. There is an organization called stretch zone that I am going to try.

I focused more on strength training

I want to protect my body from injury, so strengthening my muscles with strength training will help. I am doing the hip machine, the leg press, and the leg extension even on non-weight days. I am doing squats and leg lunges too.

I did exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knees

I started riding my bike outside, but I am riding it slowly, so my legs have to work more. I am doing the elliptical for cardio, and doing wall sits, lunges and squats.

I am using a massage gun and a roller to work out the muscles, and I wrap my knee in either KT tape, an Ace bandage, or a knee sleeve to give it support.

I hear people all the time who say they wish they could become a runner, but they are afraid to start. I wish they knew that running can change both your physical and mental health. Runners are also the least judgmental group of people I know. You can show up at any age, any shape or size, and any fitness level, and you will still be welcomed. If you are ready to start the adventure, here is a basic guide to becoming a runner.

Form

I’m going to tell you about the correct form for a runner and then tell you that you will see many variations of this form, and most of them are o.k.

Run relaxed

Drop your shoulders. Many runners hunch their shoulders when they first start running. It will cause cramping in your shoulders, so focus on relaxing those shoulders.

Keep your elbows tucked into your sides and pretend you are holding eggs in your hand.

Breathe regularly. Runners also hold their breath when they first start to run. Focus on breathing in and out until it feels normal.

Run lightly

When your feet connect with the ground, land softly instead of slamming your feet down each time. You can save energy and I know for myself I have avoided injuries running like this.

Hold your head so that your eyes are looking ten feet ahead. Don’t lean your head forward, and don’t bend your head down unless you are looking at a trail to avoid falling. People often drop their heads when they are tired, and it slows them down.

Body protection

You should do exercises to protect yourself as a runner. All the core exercises are good like sit-ups, planks, push-ups, and bridges. I like to do strength exercises. Stretching is key. Good nutrition is important too. I eat lots of protein and fruits and vegetables. Drink plenty of water. Get enough rest.

Foot protection

If you can afford it, buy a good pair of shoes. Go to a local running store and let them evaluate your running style to fit you for the right shoe. Shoes should be changed out around every three months. If your feet are tired, rub in some peppermint oil and lotion.

Start slowly

If you try to do too much too soon, you will be sore, and you might not want to run again. Don’t increase your mileage by more than 10% per week. You can start off running and walking.