I’m not very competitive. Why? I just think I don’t need to be. I can just quietly be happy the way I am.

You see, I believe that there’s no lack of anything. Abundance is all around us.

Just look at nature. Then you will understand that we live in an abundant world. Yes, I believe this. Yes, I’m one of those people.

There is an abundance of things like bugs. Yuck!

I confess, I don’t really like bugs. I love the outdoors except for the bugs.

There’s a reason. I have a traumatic bug story to tell:

Back in the late 70′s I lived in an apartment building in Toronto. It wasn’t upscale or anything, but it was not bad. A lot of up-and-comers lived there. I shared a 3-bedroom apartment with 2 guys. One weekend when they were away, I came home late one night.

Now picture this: white kitchen cabinets in a very neutral apartment. We were too busy to decorate. So everything looked white.

I opened my apartment door.

I turned on the lights.

And there they were.

Hundreds of cockroaches all over the kitchen. Stark white covered in brown ugliness.

I screamed! I ran out of the apartment. I took the elevator downstairs and just outside the building was a convenience store. They had nothing substantial to use to get rid of cockroaches other than Raid. I bought 2 cans.

I went back upstairs and tied on a cotton scarf to cover my mouth. I proceeded to spray Raid like a mad woman all over the kitchen cabinets and walls. I thought I was going to be quite ill at one point.

I threw out all the food we had. I called a friend. I wasn’t staying there that night – for sure! When I got to my friend’s place, I called my roomate at the number he left me. I told him what happened.

For me, that place was never the same. I moved shortly after.

So no, I don’t like bugs. In the summer, when I eat outdoors, I prefer to be in a screened-in area. And even then I still have to tolerate ants or grass ticks, or whatever.

Yes, there certainly is an abundance of bugs!

Sometimes I’m grateful for some bugs that eat other bugs. I just don’t want them flying around near me. I do appreciate bumblebees or honey bees. At a distance, though.

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Here’s a sexy jazzy version of the song “My Funny Valentine” by Chaka Khan.

Hope you enjoy and have a very Happy Valentine’s day.

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I subscribe to a couple of really neat newsletters and in one of them today was this wonderful quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that describes perfectly how I view success and it has nothing to do with how much money I have:

To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children, to earn the approbations of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give oneself; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm; and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

What does success mean to you?

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