It seems like the year of 2020 has been a total bust- unemployment rising, business slowing down, killer bees, and let's not forget the infamous toilet paper shortage! But among the wreckage that is 2020, there are plenty of things to be thankful for. Let's take a dive in.

Most of us start out the new year expecting a fresh beginning. This is the time to make a list of your new year’s resolutions and conquer them! Or in most peoples’ case just make a list. This year started out pretty decent for me actually. I was working full-time and going to school full-time as well. I was looking forward to graduating with my Bachelor’s degree in May. Thank goodness because I was pulling my hair out with all the stress from school. Literally, you could see clumps of my hair all over the house, but that could also have been from my lack of cleaning lately. Moving onto March, I started hearing more about COVID-19. They had begun to shut down certain businesses in Minnesota where I was living. There was talk around my work place saying that we could possibly get shut down because we weren’t considered an essential business. Later on, we got notice that we were essential. Who knew a book binding company was essential? Anyways, my company ended up laying off myself and several other employees for about a month. After the month, everyone got called back but me. I forgot to mention, my husband also worked at the same company. When everyone got called back and I didn’t, my husband started asking questions as to why I was still stuck sitting at home since I was the accounting administrator. My boss finally replied in a roundabout way saying they weren’t calling me back. That moment started my job search, which still continues to this day unfortunately.

An Open Letter of Gratitude to My Daughter Dear Blessed, Although this year has been extremely trying I am the type of person who finds the light within every tunnel. This November marks the 20th anniversary of our family being free from domestic abuse. It is quite a milestone and what a fitting way to close out this exasperating year by celebrating the strength and love within our household. I think about how far we all have come over the years and I just smile. Today, I turn my attention to you regarding your courage as a child and how this very same courage woke me up quite literally to the reality of an undeniably deadly situation.

This is a nightmare every woman is familiar with. At some point in your life you've wondered, you've worried, you've known someone, you've heard the sad tale. That's me. I can't have children.

I dare say eternally disappointed that true love has been lost. And the fact is that before saying I love you was not so simple, the magnitude of the feeling, made it difficult to pronounce these words.

We are all searching for the right formula for having success in dating, right? I know I was when my now husband and I were dating. I wanted things to be precise. Give me thoroughness, give me quality, give me precision. That's kinda how I work through life in general.

On November 26th this year, you'll likely be seated around a table (with whichever number of people is appropriate ATM) feasting on comfort foods with your family. Family members who, I need not remind you, have various personality types. It can be catastrophic at times and it can be beautiful. As you pass around the stuffing, remember: every enneagram number has their unique strengths. I am choosing to be appreciative of the differences. In honor of Thanksgiving, here is why I am thankful for each personality!

Normally a title specially reserved for four's, the holidays seem to turn everyone into a Romantic! Whether you're dating, trying to date, engaged, or married to someone, nothing says, "thoughtful" like a personalized date. Make your special person happy this holiday season with these "holidates" (holiday dates) based on their Enneagram type!

Please consider making a donation of any denomination toward future En Pointe In Public films here: gf.me/u/y6r4ka contemporary /kənˈtɛmp(ə)r(ər)i/ - belonging to or occurring in the present 

I have seven tattoos, but the one people seem most eager to see is the teacup on my ankle. They seem to appreciate the lengths to which I have gone to declare my love of tea. I do love tea; in fact it is one of my favourite things. However, this is not why I have adorned myself with its famed receptacle. And, no, it isn't because Ed Sheeran or Louis Tomlinson has one either. But, as it's quite a long story, I often just don't correct people when they assume as much. However, it's nice to have an opportunity such as this to explain the full tale.

Yes, being alone does not mean I'm lonely at all. But there are people who have asked me over the internet: "how do you survive without having any real-life friends?"

What Is a Xennial? Pronounced: “zen-knee-el.” A quick search of Wikipedia will give you the definition of a Xennial as any person who was born from the late 1970’s to as late as 1985. We are the micro-generation caught between Generation X and the Millennial generation. This is because we were born at the very end of one and the very start of the next. We grew up a lot like most of Generation X, but then awoke to a world of drastic change; just as we entered into adulthood.

Most of us start out the new year expecting a fresh beginning. This is the time to make a list of your new year’s resolutions and conquer them! Or in most peoples’ case just make a list. This year started out pretty decent for me actually. I was working full-time and going to school full-time as well. I was looking forward to graduating with my Bachelor’s degree in May. Thank goodness because I was pulling my hair out with all the stress from school. Literally, you could see clumps of my hair all over the house, but that could also have been from my lack of cleaning lately. Moving onto March, I started hearing more about COVID-19. They had begun to shut down certain businesses in Minnesota where I was living. There was talk around my work place saying that we could possibly get shut down because we weren’t considered an essential business. Later on, we got notice that we were essential. Who knew a book binding company was essential? Anyways, my company ended up laying off myself and several other employees for about a month. After the month, everyone got called back but me. I forgot to mention, my husband also worked at the same company. When everyone got called back and I didn’t, my husband started asking questions as to why I was still stuck sitting at home since I was the accounting administrator. My boss finally replied in a roundabout way saying they weren’t calling me back. That moment started my job search, which still continues to this day unfortunately.

I am thankful for the space that COVID has allowed me to take in regards to a toxic relationship. 2020 has been, well, unimaginable to most; feeling almost like a horror movie that hasn‘t ended yet. Maybe titled, ”The Silent Stalker: How One Virus Took Over the World.” Yes, we have been in this for 9 months now, the length it takes to carry a child to full term. That’s a perspective I can also hardly imagine.

https://bit.ly/1000LoveQuestions In this day and time, it is easy to find yourself in a battle between your heart and mind. This can also be true with the battle between love and marriage. It is hard to value marriage at during these times, because people have adapted the concept that they are free to live and do what every they want without having to be in a committed relationship and even commit to marriage, in fear that they will get hurt or hurt someone else. In marriage some key goals to set is to make a list and to check it twice, Hell even edit that list to have it conform to the growing changes that you will face. This will help you sustain your marriage and allow room for healthy boundaries as well as leave room for honesty and openness. Below you will read some keys that have been put together to guide you on how to make this happen.

In the year 2017, I feel like I changed into something, not someone but something. I used to be brave, not afraid to do things; my anxiety and panic attacks have gotten out of control to the point where I don’t want to leave my home. I used to go out with my husband, go clubbing, make friends; I was so social and outgoing. I could talk and approach anyone. But not anymore; I notice all that changed before the year ended for 2016, about seven days, things started to crumble. It started with betrayal. My career degree stolen, My muse is gone, and my shield was taken. I will explain in that order.

It’s not you it’s me is heard across the world in so many different languages. Personally I’ve never said the words it’s not you it’s me but I have heard it. It’s not you it’s me...humm now what could that person mean by that statement. So you ask well at least for me I asked, “what do you mean it’s not you it’s me”? There’s an occurred silence and there’s this huge elephant in the room that’s has entered the room.

The phone rang as she fumbled with the key, trying to beat the answering machine. She knew she’d lost the race when she heard her roommate’s voice say “please leave a message” so she slowed down and took her time, listening to the caller.

I dare say eternally disappointed that true love has been lost. And the fact is that before saying I love you was not so simple, the magnitude of the feeling, made it difficult to pronounce these words.

We are all searching for the right formula for having success in dating, right? I know I was when my now husband and I were dating. I wanted things to be precise. Give me thoroughness, give me quality, give me precision. That's kinda how I work through life in general.

In introduction, it up to you to determine what betrayal in what relationship you deem worthy to save. There comes a time when the damage is too severe to repair. This is for those who have a realistic hope to forge a healthy relationship.

Seeing the person you love the most, left in a blink of an eye to be with someone who he never stopped loving. You’re head is spinning; you start to break down and wonder, where did it go wrong? Looking back at all the wonderful times you both shared together, was it even real? How can you compete with his first love? You try your best to fight for your family but in the end you move on forward.

The first time I ever danced with my husband was at his mother’s wedding nearly twenty years ago. I think it was number six out of eight, and that in itself should have been a red flag except that her faith and optimism made it almost admirable. I was so terribly blind that I could only see him and feel the magnetic pull of gravity that lingered between us. Little did I know that the gravitational pull was the same as that of the Death Star in all of the Star Wars movies. . . the large space station command center for the forces of evil and destruction that locks on its targets and pulls them to their death.

It all started when I was spending a few days with my in laws and sister in laws family. It was a good week spending with them and getting out of all the congestion and craziness of being in the city. My husband at the time was out of town working and had been gone for a few weeks already, we had recently talked about trying to work on our marriage and I admitted to him that I know I had been putting all my focus and energy on to our baby.

It seems like the year of 2020 has been a total bust- unemployment rising, business slowing down, killer bees, and let's not forget the infamous toilet paper shortage! But among the wreckage that is 2020, there are plenty of things to be thankful for. Let's take a dive in.

An Open Letter of Gratitude to My Daughter Dear Blessed, Although this year has been extremely trying I am the type of person who finds the light within every tunnel. This November marks the 20th anniversary of our family being free from domestic abuse. It is quite a milestone and what a fitting way to close out this exasperating year by celebrating the strength and love within our household. I think about how far we all have come over the years and I just smile. Today, I turn my attention to you regarding your courage as a child and how this very same courage woke me up quite literally to the reality of an undeniably deadly situation.

This is a nightmare every woman is familiar with. At some point in your life you've wondered, you've worried, you've known someone, you've heard the sad tale. That's me. I can't have children.

By the time they arrived at Marilyn’s van, Lizzie felt she had a general idea of how to use her new phone. “Look who showed up today,” teased their driver, her teal eyes locking on Lizzie. “You know, if you had a different ride, you could’ve just said something to one of these clowns. I thought Mona was going to kill me!”

November 13, 2020 Today marks the 13th of November 2020, on a Friday. So of course, I had to change my blogs release date to Friday the 13th. I have never seen this day as a bad luck type of day, in fact I made it my good luck day! Occasionally, a Friday the 13th comes around and I embrace it and manifest it as a day of good luck and good energies all around. Why have I done this? I guess all the negative connotation around this day never struck right with me, I wanted to give this day better meaning in my life. I know it’s silly, but it is my way of turning this upside-down view right side up in my head. ANYWHO, back to regularly scheduled program!

I hung around the Hagert playground area with the WTO boys. Pat was a Lot boy but he was one of those dudes everyone liked and respected and we hung out often, playing sports, finding trouble, whatever. He was a funny and fun person to be around.

Diversification is mainly used as a financial term to describe the practice of securing multiple different investments in order to protect the initial capital from potential risks. In effect it is a safety net.

When we think of the word "PUNK", we automatically picture oppressed street folk who think they're well above the law and only have sinister intentions of overthrowing the government. With their many tattoos, piercings, soap and sugar spiked mohawks, and patchwork leather jackets; we often place the cliché into a subcategory of criminally challenged individuals. But, I have to say that what we might initially think of the punk scene has never been more wrong. And, you wouldn't believe this if you encountered one on the street, but somewhere behind that mould is a heart just the same as you. And it beats no different from any other soul on this planet.

I woke up this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep — too much on my mind. Instead of tossing and turning which would eventually result in waking my husband and disturbing our dog, I got up. What does one do at 3 A.M.? Why read Facebook, of course.

The Winter Express It was the last weekend before Christmas. That last big holiday before everyone would ring in the new year. People from all over packed the train station, hoping to catch a quick trip to Winter Park to hit the slopes one last time. I included myself in this as I didn’t want to drive through the Rockies from Denver to a ski resort.

Logline: An illegal love in 1915 is a dangerous game; two young men, a medical student and a petty criminal face steep odds for making a life together.

It was a Sunday. June 30, 2019 to be exact. I was working for an Amazon fulfillment center at the time and a few of my coworkers were persuading me to join them in the annual Pride Parade. I have two sisters that are still in high school and at the time they were 15 and 16. I thought it would be good for them to participate in something like that and experience a little culture. I signed us up. At the time, I had no idea how miserably lonely I truly was. I'm a cisgender heterosexual woman (26 then) and was dating a man whose name I'll leave out of this. We had been together for 3 years and 6 months. We spent almost 1 year living together at my parents house and another 2 years living alone. He deployed for 10 months during that time period, and I stayed with him. We adopted 2 cats. And I was 1 semester into my junior year of college. All of these numbers felt crucial to me at the time. They were measurements of a life I wanted so badly to work. I didn't want to accept how much time I had been wasting.

The patriarchy hasn’t been exactly kind to men. This might be a controversial thing to say given all the privileges they’ve had for centuries at the expense of women, but nothing is ever black-and-white.

A wedding anniversary is one of the special days in a couple's life. It is the milestone day when they became one. You might want to get a surprising anniversary gift for husband, but it is hard to find a perfect gift, isn't it? Out of many relationships that two persons share, marriage is the most sensitive and crucial bond which is shared by two loving souls. When life allows you to express your love for your husband, you should put the best foot forward and celebrate it uniquely with gorgeous anniversary gifts. A lot of online gift shops have come up with an exclusive collection of gifts to make your gift searching process easier.

1) He's not a phone person, he is always making excuses saying that he doesn't like to talk on the phone and how he likes to communicate face to face more and that texting and calling is a waste of time for themselves.

Alina's POV When Alina arrived, the first thing she saw was the doctors were still working on Bryce, rushing to save his life. Only, they seemed to be more frantic, as if they were losing him instead of saving him. The very thought of this made Alina's worry soar to unheard-of heights. The doctors were moving as fast humanly possible, and it seemed as though they were beginning to lose hope. She soon became aware of her cousin Edward sitting next to her. He took notice of her awakening. Giving her a look of pity, Edward let out a small sigh.

Chapter 1 As the plane landed in Denver, relief came over Mona. She made it, but it is still very much in question what her plan would be. She didn't want to stay long in Denver, and she still had her apartment and John back in New York City, but she needed to get away for a bit and find herself. Mona gathered her things, ready to exit the plane as it came to a complete stop. While leaving the plane, she took a look around the airport to see her new home for a few weeks. The dry heat hit her like a ton of bricks when she left the cold airport.

Before we start, I want to preface this by establishing some out-of-text information about this series. House of Night is credited to two authors, P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, a mother-daughter team. However, in several interviews and Q&As, they have stressed that they did not actually co-author the series. Instead, P.C. Cast wrote the books and Kristin Cast helped her first as a teen voice editor, and then later as a frontline editor. (Cast and Cast 2017:277; Cast and Cast 2018:332; Cast and Cast 2020:358, 363; Rought 2020; Fricot 2019) It’s not clear exactly when this shift in roles occurred, nor is it ever clearly explained what a frontline editor does, but both women firmly state that Kristin Cast is not an author or co-author on the series. However, for the sake of simplicity and abiding official citations for the series, I will be referring to the authorship of this series as though it were a joint effort.

I've always convinced myself that there is a fundamental part of my being that is too broken beyond repair to ever allow anyone to actually "love" me. Sure, my loved ones would love me, but only bits and pieces, only the parts that I've spent countless years tailoring to be "lovable." Because, sure, I'm lovable, but for the majority of my life I believed being lovable was only possible under strict Terms and Conditions.

Dear Stranger, I saw you today. Sitting on a park bench, enjoying the cool breeze. The sunlight danced off your face like the wings of a Brimstone butterfly. Your hazel eyes glimmered in the light. I stared for a while, admiring your features.

It took me a few minutes to realize that I was gripping my phone a little too tight, was I nervous? YES! Did I want to talk to him? YES! was I scared? to Death. I wanted nothing more than to talk to him. My phone started to ring and I looked at the screen and saw that it was really Chris calling me. After a few rings, I picked it up and held it to my ear. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. I don't remember being this nervous before but I think it's because of the distance I took from him after everything that happened.

There’s something in the sky tonight. A tingle. A whisper. Electric, green waves roll their way across the starlit sky as if sending messages from the universe to the earth. The wolves’ howls in the distance, carried along by the chill, winter breeze, make their way across the mountains and down into the forest where Rebecca lies. Her velvet, brown hair caresses her pale cheeks as she turns her head to face the glass windows above her. She has finally made it back to Igloo Village. The howling breeze, as cool and soothing as the blanket of bleached-white snow on the ground outside, strokes the needles of the surrounding pine trees and compels the owls among their branches to hoot, almost as if in melody with each other. This is Finland in winter. Rebecca looks up through the clear, curved roof of her igloo, closes her eyes for a moment and breathes out a deep sigh of relief. She is alone. She is still. All is peaceful and serene. The warmth from the flickering fire calms her nerves as the smell of cinnamon from the burning and crackling pinecones kisses the air around her.

What if I don’t? Marriage at 23 Sarah Johnson I married at 21. Something that I haven’t ever really just sat down and contemplated is the question, "what is love"? Yet, I seem to get asked that a lot, at random. Love is unconditional. Love is caring, selfless, kind, patient. Love is a choice. It’s something that doesn’t always just come to you, as I had once believed. I thought that when you get married, somehow everything falls together and it just came to you on how to love. How very wrong I was. Marriage isn’t hard like so many around me seemed to believe. Love is hard. Choosing someone over and over again is difficult. It’s even more difficult if you don't’ love that person or have it in you to commit. This is why it’s so important to choose your partner wisely and know that you’re committing to them for the rest of your life. Not just when you feel like it, not until they get crazy and you want out, not when it’s just the good days. Those vows that are said are said for a reason and are supposed to mean something. How unfortunate that our generation has slowly taken marriage and made it into something that’s like a relationship. You can leave whenever you want or if it gets to be too much. No. That’s what dating is. You’re not dating this person, you’re married to them.

dear husband, if you leave your wet towel beside the bed one more time, I swear to god, this time I am not picking it up. That thing could start to grow mushrooms on it, attract various insects, and emit an odour that can only be described as "swampy", and I still won't do it this time. You have to learn. You have to see the consequences of these actions. I will not ask again.

I walk down the street without anyone by my side. Truly, I walk through life alone, only joined briefly by another pair of shoes that step in time with mine, a smile and a hand to hold until another tugs them away. I do not wait for love. I've seen what it does. It burns the hands it does not hold, it ices over the hearts it cannot infect, it drowns in tears the people it cannot tempt. I have been love's victim- someone's else's love, one that does not deign to include me.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” - Eli Wiesel

To be alone can be a lonely time. It can also be an opportunity. With lockdowns, firebreaks and circuit breakers becoming a potential outlook for the future of the world it has raised significant worries for mental health professionals and the human need to be part of a group. Many mental health campaigns are fighting for those who are struggling while being on their own and who are feeling lonely. These campaigns can be seen on most social media platforms, news outlets and posters.

The craziest thing just happened to me. I honestly don't even know where the hell to begin. Let's start at the beginning of September. I was 20. I was excited about turning 21, because I'd finally be legal and won't get in trouble for the "adult indulgences" that I had been doing.

So this is my first time doing this. I have poor grammar so sorry if I confuse anyone at all but I thought I’d come and tell some tales. This one for me has scarred me for life as pretty stupid as it sounds that is how I felt about it. Here is the tale:

If the disaster year of 2020 has taught us anything, it's that humans as a species are relatively adaptable in the time of need. Well. Most of them anyway.