Jan Penton Miller

This morning I have the upstairs of the coffee shop to myself; it feels like my own little space with the buzz of conversation from other customers coming in and out drifting up the stairway.

There is something happy about this little space even without others here. It’s as if the many conversations have soaked into the brick and mortar over the course of time, and the feel is comforting.

These aged bricks must have heard many messages breathed in strict confidence, soft words of comfort and encouragement, and maybe even hushed whispers from a clandestine meeting of secret lovers. If only the walls could talk, but if I write here often enough my imagination may muster up a story or two of my own.

My phone buzzes with another call from a number that I am unfamiliar with, and l let it go to voicemail. I know that cellphones give us all convenience and sometimes even a feeling of safety when navigating through unknown territory, but I am convinced that they can also be a nuisance. I think about the communication of a bygone era when I was small, and though it was rudimentary at best, it was also far less demanding of a person’s time.

I’m sure some of you remember my party line stories of how my Mamaw’s neighbor used to hog the telephone and listen to others conversations, so I guess communication in those days had it’s own set of challenges!

One challenge of communicating today is making your text messages come across with the meaning you intended. Without voice intonation and body language it can be difficult to decipher the true meaning of a message so I prefer old school communicating.

My caramel frappe is not on the Mediterranean diet I have been following as of late, but what’s a girl to do? Everyone needs a little cheat day occasionally, but I have really been sticking to my program this time. My clothes are fitting me so much better, and I’m definitely feeling a sense of accomplishment when the numbers of the scale inch downward.

Fad diets have never worked for me, and I wondered if this would be another failed attempt, but much to my delight the Mediterranean diet has been easy to follow. Basically it’s just healthy eating with limited red meat and sweets.

Success breeds success is a restatement of ideas attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Early 20th century American philosopher, William Durant, made this exact quote famous, and I totally agree with the sentiment. I know it’s always been true in my life that the encouragement of making a positive change pushes me in the direction of more positive changes.

With success in losing a few pounds I am now adding a little weight training to the mix. I’m not setting a crazy difficult goal, because I have been known to reach for the stars only to crash land on terra firma, but not this time!