If you've been following me here or on social media for a bit, you know I'm a positive person. What you don't know is that I wasn't always that way. I called myself a realist, but I was really a pessimist. I saw the glass half empty instead of half full. I was down on my luck. If you showed me any of the upbeat, positive quotes I share now, I'd wave them off and say they weren't for me. I never made lemonade out of any lemons.

I'll come right out and say it: I watched the kids' movie Sing 2 three times this weekend. Each time, I couldn't get over how much the main message is something that adults need to hear and take to heart, perhaps even more than kids. So let me set the scene for the uninitiated (spoiler alert!).

I'll come right out and say it: I don't make New Years' resolutions. But this year, I’m doing something different. I’m picking a “word” for my year. It’s not immediately obvious or sexy, but it works.

The “bare minimum” is “15 pieces of flair,” not 37 — and there’s nothing wrong with doing the bare minimum!

I was lucky enough to accompany two preschoolers on a trip of "firsts" recently. Their first train ride, subway ride, and Broadway show. What a day! To watch them encounter those new experiences was kind of like looking up "joy" in the dictionary and seeing it defined by a picture worth a thousand words. The look on their faces was priceless.

I was nonchalantly walking down the street in town when I spotted it: yet another abandoned mask on the sidewalk. As I drew closer, I thought, "How funny, that's the same signature blue color of my JMT Speaks mask." Then I realized: it was my JMT Speaks mask! <GASP!>