We've all heard that you don't always know how your actions (or inactions) affect others.  A simple smile or kind word can mean all the world to someone. I got one of those smiles when I was a freshman in high school. We won't discuss how many years ago that was, but I still remember it to this day.

I am, by nature, a positive, optimistic person. So much so, my husband says if I walked into a room full of horse manure, I would immediately begin looking for the pony.  And he's right, I would. But that doesn't mean I don't see the crap in there; it simply means I choose to walk around it and not dwell on it.  

The older I get, the more I realize I lived in the best of days. We didn't have much back then. In fact, by today's, standards we would have been considered poverty level. But, in addition to unconditional love, we had things no amount of money could buy. Our clothes were hand-me-downs but they were clean. The roof didn't leak and we had food on the table. We thrived on carefree summers spent at my grandparents farm or fishing with my dad or my brothers.