Encounter

I often walk my neighborhood before the sun rises, which is apparently prime time to bump into my "pal"...a skunk. I’ve wandered as close as six feet of him before my brain catches up—luckily he’s never felt inspired to…"say hello" to me.🤢

Temp Swings

It's the time of year we get those wide temperature swings! Bundle up in the morning, and walk around in a short sleeve shirt by the afternoon! 😁☀️

Rock Paper Scissors

It was amazing how fixated we'd be over a simple game as a child. Once we figured out how the game was played, we'd play it for HOURS! 😅🪨📃✂️

Quiet Morning

When my mother had a long commute to work, she'd drop me off early at school...earlier than most of the teaching staff!

I would often settle myself by one of the school's doors and  enjoy the peace and quiet while watching the sun rise. 😊☀️

Cereal

I miss when the major networks had morning cartoons...which of course were peppered with breaks featuring numerous cereal commercials!

We watched cartoon leprechauns, birds, rabbits, tigers, bees, frogs, ship captains, cavemen, and robbers convince us to beg our parents to buy us their cereal.

Notice how I tried to capture the near catatonic state on Zack's face, which is how my face looked as I concentrated on watching my favorite cartoons! 😵‍💫😂

Broken

A devastating moment for sure...

When I was younger, I accompanied my father as he ran into the grocery store to get a jar of raisin sauce. I wanted to help, so I asked if I could carry it to the register. My Dad handed me the jar, but I didn't know how heavy it would be! I struggled as we walked down the aisle...until the jar slipped completely out of my hands and burst on the store floor.

Despite the assurances from both my father and the store clerk, I was mortified! Not just because I broke store merchandise before we even paid for it, but because I felt like I let my Dad down. 😢

Blunt Nose Trauma

You can tell I’ve broken my nose a few times. One was during a soccer game, when I tried to head a ball that ended up smacking me square in the face instead. My eyes watered, I stumbled around as the coach yelled for me to get back in the game. I finished the play, got pulled out, and told him I was ‘fine’—even though I was pretty sure I’d just added a brand‑new bump to my nose. 😵⚽️

Soccer

It's that time of year...spring sports are starting up!

For me, it was soccer. I remember starting practices in February before the soccer season began. It was still winter, and bitterly cold on that practice field, but being outside every day after school, I got to experience the weather change firsthand as spring swept in. 😎☀️

Winter

This winter has felt particularly brutal...it's hard to believe we are almost through it! Just a couple more weeks to go. I can hardly wait! 😎☀️

Rainy Sunday

A rainy Sunday afternoon was perfect for curling up with a comic book. And once I got into the superhero stories, it was hard not to picture what it might feel like to have powers myself. ️🤩

Trouble

Anyone have an assignment like this?

Fortunately this only happened to me a couple times in my childhood. When we got in trouble and the teacher forced us to write a particular sentence five hundred times, it was an assignment that took nearly all weekend to complete, especially when we had to push through with a mix of frustration, exhaustion, and pure desperation! 😮‍💨📝

Running

I didn't like to run much in gym class...except when the weather was cold!

Trying to get your body heat up during freezing temperatures is a great motivator! 🥶😅

Snow Day

A child's worst nightmare after a snowfall! 😬

When the plow made its way through the neighborhood, every kid knew their return to school wasn't far behind! 😮‍💨❄️

Treacherous

Many of you know I like to go for walks, but after it snows, venturing out can be a bit dicey...especially when you come across a neighbor that has yet to clear off their walkways. 😬

I've slipped and fallen enough times in treacherous conditions to think twice about walking outside...at least until all the snow and ice has melted. 🤕👟

Frozen Snow

This is something a lot of people in our area experienced the last couple weeks!

Some people, for various reasons, don't venture out to shovel snow right away. With our temps below freezing, it doesn't take long for the snow to freeze! Instead of SHOVELING snow, you end up CHIPPING away on a block of ice! 🥶🧊

Car Door

Why as kids did we always race to the car? We'd run to the car and get there well before our parents, only to be forced to wait for them to unlock and open each door for us. 🥶

Thankfully, we now have car remotes that can unlock our car doors before we even REACH the car. 😅🔑🚗

Sweater

With single pane windows, our family house would get bitterly chilly during the winter. My mother's solution when we'd complain about being cold..."put on a sweater!"

The sweaters that she'd get me were those double stitched type, though, and they itched terribly. Either I suffered through the cold, or I'd itch all day! 😖

Salt

Something else that I struggle to deal with when we get a decent accumulation of snow and ice...tracking snow and salt into the house on my shoes!

It can be a challenge to keep the carpets clean and debris-free throughout the winter! 😮‍💨🥾❄️

Shovel

What are your plans this weekend? Me...🥶❄️⛄️

I can't say shoveling snow is a favorite pastime of mine, but it's arguably worse when the snow clumps up, and you end up having to move BOULDERS of snow at a time! 😮‍💨

Sledding

Sledding was always a fun activity when it snowed, even if it only lasted a couple seconds! 😅

The truth was you ended up spending most of the time climbing back up the hill for the next run! 😮‍💨

Freeze

When the temps dropped below freezing, it was practically a necessity to wear my gloves when waiting at the bus stop. If I forgot...🥶

Melted

A major disadvantage to walking to school...on days it snowed, you usually tracked snow in on your shoe treads. The snow would melt, leaving a pool of water under your desk, which you had to deal with the entire school day. 😮‍💨

Macho

I may not have told too many people about my interest in pro wrestling, but there were signs! 😎

Asleep

True friends share a lot in common! 😴💤

 

Whistle

Upon request from a follower, here's a drawing of Zack, walking down the sidewalk, whistling like Mickey Mouse in one of his earlier cartoons.

I even exaggerated the background as a nod to the "rubber hose animations" from the 1920's to 1930's.

The request allowed me to show Zack in a scene where he is in obvious good spirits, and it reminds me how as long as I can remember, I've tried to have a similar attitude in life. Not only do I think it is healthy to be as cheerful and kind as possible, but I hope the feeling is infectious to the people I come into contact with throughout the day. 🥰