EBC

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@Michaeljos92972 I do !

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@PureMichigan Tip of the Thumb ... Port Austin & Caseville ... shhhhh 🤫🤐 don't tell anybody !

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@AlanSyliboy Thanks so much for posting yr beautiful drums ... It brightens my everyday ☀️

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@TalkingFriars @GaglioneBros How much was the parking ??

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

"My name's Raymond. I'm 73. I work the parking lot at St. Joseph's Hospital. Minimum wage, orange vest, a whistle I barely use. Most people don't even look at me. I'm just the old man waving cars into spaces.
But I see everything.

Like the black sedan that circled the lot every morning at 6 a.m. for three weeks. Young man driving, grandmother in the passenger seat. Chemotherapy, I figured. He'd drop her at the entrance, then spend 20 minutes hunting for parking, missing her appointments.

One morning, I stopped him. "What time tomorrow?"
"6:15," he said, confused.
"Space A-7 will be empty. I'll save it."
He blinked. "You... you can do that?"
"I can now," I said.

Next morning, I stood in A-7, holding my ground as cars circled angrily. When his sedan pulled up, I moved. He rolled down his window, speechless. "Why?"
"Because she needs you in there with her," I said. "Not out here stressing."
He cried. Right there in the parking lot.

Word spread quietly. A father with a sick baby asked if I could help. A woman visiting her dying husband. I started arriving at 5 a.m., notebook in hand, tracking who needed what. Saved spots became sacred. People stopped honking. They waited. Because they knew someone else was fighting something bigger than traffic.
But here's what changed everything, A businessman in a Mercedes screamed at me one morning. "I'm not sick! I need that spot for a meeting!"

"Then walk," I said calmly. "That space is for someone whose hands are shaking too hard to grip a steering wheel."

He sped off, furious. But a woman behind him got out of her car and hugged me. "My son has leukemia," she sobbed. "Thank you for seeing us."

The hospital tried to stop me. "Liability issues," they said. But then families started writing letters. Dozens. "Raymond made the worst days bearable." "He gave us one less thing to break over."

Last month, they made it official. "Reserved Parking for Families in Crisis." Ten spots, marked with blue signs. And they asked me to manage it.

But the best part? A man I'd helped two years ago, his mother survived, came back. He's a carpenter. Built a small wooden box, mounted it by the reserved spaces. Inside? Prayer cards, tissues, breath mints, and a note,

"Take what you need. You're not alone. -Raymond & Friends"
People leave things now. Granola bars. Phone chargers. Yesterday, someone left a hand-knitted blanket.
I'm 73. I direct traffic in a hospital parking lot. But I've learned this: Healing doesn't just happen in operating rooms. Sometimes it starts in a parking space. When someone says, "I see your crisis. Let me carry this one small piece."

So pay attention. At the grocery checkout, the coffee line, wherever you are. Someone's drowning in the little things while fighting the big ones.

Hold a door. Save a spot. Carry the weight no one else sees.
It's not glamorous. But it's everything."

Let this story reach more hearts....

Credit: Mary Nelson

[꧁♛𝓑𝓵✯𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓼♛꧂ @heyitsmeCarolyn]

That’s the problem👇

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@Nnedi @StarbrightBook Gorgeous 💕

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@jenwagner 😢💕 She will be soooo deeply missed ... the world is a lesser place without her in it ... she is onward to her greater glory 🙏🏻💕

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@jenwagner Merry Christmas ... may joy accompany you on yr journey to your heavenly home 👼🙏🏻💕

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@jenwagner Ahhh dear heart ... may grace surround you - and all the love you have shared with us return to you in endless waves 🙏🏻💕

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

There's a fountain in Budapest that looks like a book: every few seconds a sheet of water blasts forth from the book's spine, creating the illusion that an invisible force is turning the pages of this marble tome.

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@mychal3ts Oooooo I just finished them ... sooo amazing -- they just opened my mind to all the possibilities... you are going to love them 📚👏🏻👏🏻💕 ( I am the first to check them out from my local library) @OsideLibrary and yes I read past my bedtime 🛏️🥱📖

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@strandbookstore 4

[Fara Kaufman @justfara]

So, I spoke to people getting food at a food bank and here are some things I learned from those in need:
1. Everyone donates Kraft Mac and Cheese in the box. They can rarely use it because it needs milk and butter which is hard to get from regular food banks.
2. Boxed milk is a treasure, as kids need it for cereal which they also get a lot of.
3. Everyone donates pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles.
4. They cannot eat all the awesome canned veggies and soup unless you put a can opener in too or buy pop tops.
5. Oil is a luxury but needed for Rice a-Roni which they also get a lot of.
6. Spices or salt and pepper would be a real Christmas gift.
7. Tea bags and coffee make them feel like you care.
8. Sugar and flour are treats.
9. They fawn over fresh produce donated by farmers and grocery stores.
10. Seeds are cool in Spring and Summer because growing can be easy for some.
11. They rarely get fresh meat.
12. Tuna and crackers make a good lunch.
13. Hamburger Helper goes nowhere without ground beef.
14. They get lots of peanut butter and jelly but usually not sandwich bread.
15. Butter or margarine is nice too.
16. Eggs are a real commodity.
17. Cake mix and frosting makes it possible to make a child’s birthday cake.
18. Dishwashing detergent is very expensive and is always appreciated.
19. Feminine hygiene products are a luxury and women will cry over that.
20. Everyone loves Stove Top Stuffing.

In all the years I have donated food at the Holidays, I bought what I thought they wanted, but have never asked. I am glad I did. If you are helping a Family this Christmas, maybe this can help you tailor it more. It does for me!

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@BookTasters My Antonia by Willa Cather

[L.A. Public Library @LAPublicLibrary]

On the second day of #LibraryCardSignUpMonth Keanu was born. ⁠
⁠
Learn about all the benefits that come with having the #BestCardInLA at https://t.co/GFDinzK6cK

[Lori Hokyo Misaka 미사카 로리 호쿄 @LoriMisaka]

It gives me joy to pass these library brochures and menus out to teachers to let them know how we can collaborate. Thank you @kelseybogan for your library menu template!!

[EBC @NanaNinjaReader]

@CraigBaird The Group of Seven and more musicians

[MI Right to Read @MIRighttoRead]

Parental control is alive and well at public libraries. Parents are in control of which books their own children read - if you don't like one of the thousands that they have, put it back and choose another! Pretty simple concept.

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

This 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coiffed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home yesterday. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice;

I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”

She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”

And with a smile, she said: “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less, & enjoy every moment.

Photograph by Karsten Thormaehlen