CoffeeTime

Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com   Have you ever tried to help someone who doesn’t actually want help? Oh, they tell you they do. They call and beg for you to give them answers to their problems. But when you stop your busy life, put your thinking cap on, get creative and give them answers, suddenly you…

It really is innocent looking, because it looks just like wet pavement. But it can be dangerous as a rattlesnake. And just like that reptile, it strikes when you least expect it, with the intent to cause you a lot of pain and destruction. Truly unseeable, hiding in plain sight.  With absolutely no redeeming value,…

Depression.  A word that absolutely can send dread coursing through the veins. Whether you have witnessed its debilitating effect on a loved one or experienced it yourself, you know it physically changes things.   The depressed person can be blinded to seeing beauty around them. It actually can make a clear blue sky look dingy.…

The difference between a whistleblower or a tattler is their mission- no matter what they publicly declare.   Whistling is to trying prevent potential disaster from happening to innocent people. In other words, whistleblowing is attempting to do your part to make sure bad stuff doesn’t continue. It’s definitely a brave act on the part…

You know you stepped in it. Big time. Didn’t really mean to do it, but it happened. Now your spouse is hurt and angry. And they are not really waiting breathlessly to hear your apology – they’re way past that. Seeing you hanging by your bleeding ears from a dead tree in the middle of…

Nothing wrong with relaxing.  With the right timing and amount.   Being lazy? Nothing wrong with it – in moderation. After a fifteen-hour workday, certainly anyone would want a chance to just do nothing for a while. But when you decide that your thirty minutes of computer work warrants the next four hours spent in…

Most adults who have lived very long know that a strong storm – with its heavy clouds, pelting hail or blinding snow, driving winds, or flooding rain can bring on certain fear and anxiety. Not to mention downright physical and financial problems when actual disaster strikes.   Living in the Midwest most of my life,…

If we were all childhood siblings and behaving the way we fellow citizens are acting and reacting, Mom already would have taken away every last one of our toys and privileges, restricted our food to vegetables and water only for a couple of months, and wore out our sorry tails with the bread board. And…

Fighting fair. Not a spouse’s favorite saying when they are currently in the middle of “Who’s Gonna Win This Time” with their dreaded enemy of the moment.   Face it, any married human female whose spine isn’t yellow jello, wants to come out of the latest skirmish with a feeling of “Huh! Oh, yeah, I…

Babies. Tiny and adorable. Helplessly trusting you to feed, diaper and love them. They tend to bring out the best in us adults. Ladies find themselves wanting to hold an infant, just to feel it’s solid weight in their arms, and touch the incredible softness of the tender skin. A baby’s smallest whimper makes most…

If you have ever watched the old movie “Conagher,” a western based on a rough ‘n tough cowboy with a gigantic sense of right and wrong, then you might well remember the story line’s leading lady. An attractive young widow with two children, left in a lonely shack out in the boonies after the supposed…

One of the most unsympathetic people in the world is the one who has never had pain. They’ve never lost a loved one and suffered the all-enveloping grief and soul-crushing depression that can come with knowing that you never see their smile or feel hugged by them again. Never again hear that voice in conversation…

Alex suddenly realized he was starving, according to his standards. Of course, that standard set low, as his stomach pretty much governed his life. Forty-five minutes without something going into his mouth seemed like forever to that growing teenager.   Flinging aside his American History homework, he leaped off his bed and made a beeline for…

You have probably been told a few times in your life to not let anyone take away your own peace. That you responsible if you are filled to the brim with good will toward all mankind – or had your fill of all mankind. “Your happiness is in your hands, and it depends upon your own…

Jeannie slipped silently down the dark, cellar steps like a shadow on a mission. Certainly not a shadow, but definitely on a mission.   She knew exactly where her grandmother kept her pickle-making crock. Despite the blackness that surrounded her, she headed confidently across the musty narrow room. One thing was on her eleven-year-old mind.…

Shaun’s main goal in life is to never make a mistake. In fact, he will bend over backward in every area of his life to make certain that never happens. The FEAR OF PUNISHMENT from childhood is so ingrained into him that allowing even one mistake in his world cannot be tolerated. That fear has…

Are you one of those people who always staunchly defends the stand you have taken – no matter what? No backing up and reexamining your thoughts and motives? You never attempt to peek around the proverbial corner and try to see the other side of an argument? You know what you believe about a situation…

The very thing that you dread and fear can keep you keep thinking about it. A lot, in fact. And that constant thinking can give way to obsessive anxiety. And then the obsessive anxiety and fear begin to take control of your days…and causing sleepless nights. Gradually, the lack of sleep can spiral you into…

Quote; “I have been accused of being too hard on my sons. I totally disagree. Undisciplined boys become undisciplined men. Undisciplined men are found in prisons, hospitals and graveyards.” – Steve Harvey; comedian, author, actor, and television host.   You’ve been around them, we all have. The parent who gazes adoringly at their little boy…

Sick and tired of trying to teach little Johnny how to be potty trained, instead of leaving a tell-tale path of stain everywhere he goes? Exhausted from the constant battle to teach your two little warrior-siblings to learn to love each other and not try to kill each other every day? Ready to just toss…

That would definitely be wonderful, wouldn’t it? To have total amnesia regarding the awful things you have said or done in your past. To not remember the hurt you have caused, and the shame you have brought on yourself.   If everyone had that rare ability to be totally honest about their life, you would…

You think that bold firefighters hold no fear in their bones when they rush into a red-hot cauldron of fire that was once a high-rise building? That police officers have no fear inside as they run toward an active crime scene? That parents don’t spend some sleep-deprived nights, dreading the marching onslaught of the notorious…

If the adult version of you originated in a home that consisted of one child, that shaped you. You very likely grew up having no real concept of ‘sharing-because-you-have-to.’ Two in one bedroom, and having to learn to accept your different preferences? Probably inconceivable. And God forbid ever sharing one bed with a sibling who…

I can vividly imagine the reactions of most who just read that title.   “Are you nuts, Renie B?! Of course, being rich would be better for me than having to drive this old rattletrap of a car, that breaks down every time a wind any stronger than a baby’s breath blows through. I’ll have…

The angry and resentful young man sat sullenly on the edge of his narrow cot in the cell.  He had no idea how long he had been sitting there, body motionless but with his brain racing in high gear. Ben’s pulse rate and stress level had shot through the roof when he heard the cell…