Sometimes it is later in life when you truly understand the sacrifices that your parents made so that you could have a better life. The selflessness that my parents showed so that we did not have to go without is something that I think about all the time. Growing up both my mom and dad worked to ensure that the family was taken care of. We didn’t have a lot of money, but they managed to make sure that we had a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs.  As… Read More

This weekend when I was home for Father’s Day, as I usually do I stopped by the cemetery to pay respects to Grandma Lola. There is something calming about having one on one time there, even though the person isn’t in front of you. This visit and a prompting from my friend Kim last week reminded me of something that I wanted to share. As my mother well knows, one of the hardest things in dealing with people who have dementia is when you come to the point where their reality is… Read More

Well – I was attempting to set up my post for tomorrow morning a little early and wound up accidentally publishing it. So, enjoy Monday morning’s post on Sunday this week :-). Ron

It has been a little over two years since I started the Bring Smiles to Seniors program and during that time I have had the pleasure of encountering some of the most passionate and compassionate people on the planet. People who believed in us and took a chance on a small non-profit that they read about, but did not really know. These were people that believed in our cause and decided to jump in full force to help us ensure that seniors continue to smile. One of my favorite times of the… Read More

As we go through our lives people are constantly coming in and out. We meet people that we never see again. We meet people that we don’t see for a long time but somehow they find their way back into our lives. We also meet people that come into our lives and in one way or another stay there for ever. I am very fortunate and count my blessings every day that I have a very close group of friends that have been my friends for 20 years or more. That’s pretty… Read More

How many times do we look forward to an event or even just go through our day and almost miss it? Miss it because we are so busy thinking about tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year. We are so worried about what is to come that we fail to enjoy what is right in front of us. We spent this weekend with friends, where I really made a conscious effort to be in and enjoy the moment. The conversation, laughter, sharing and pure enjoyment of being with them. I… Read More

Throughout my whole life goals have been a very important part of how I operate. Without goal setting it is very hard to create a path to success. While they can be simple and not overly complex, they are an important part of growing. Setting goals and not achieving them provides you with new information to realign and reset your goals to achievable levels. Setting goals and achieving them helps build the self confidence you need to create even stronger goals that help guide you through life. Goals are also an important… Read More

Good thing my mom and aunt read my posts.  They gave me a couple corrections to the cake recipe I posted yesterday.  I have now made the corrections so if you have shared the recipe, please re-share it with the update.  The most important update is that there are three cups of flour not two…and oh yeah, you have to add the eggs!

Since the very beginning of this program, I have been astounded by the generosity and kindness of people I have never even met. From the very first post I made on Facebook asking for all my friends to send cards for my grandmother’s nursing home, to the boxes of cards I now receive regularly, my faith in humanity has never been greater. When people come together for a common good a beautiful thing happens and programs such as ours are given life to survive. I have been in the armed forces, worked… Read More

I promised to send Grandma Lola’s Pound Cake Recipe that she shared and here it is: Ron 3 Cups Sugar 3 Sticks Butter (softened – use real butter) 3 cups Flour (bread flour is best) 6 Eggs 1/4 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baking Powder 2 tsp lemon extract 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup Sour Cream Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until mixed well. Add eggs and mix well.  Add flour and mix well. Add baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well…. Read More