Well Doug, that was Hobie's fifth post here ever. Might help to tell him that he needs a double line space to achieve the paragraph break.

What I've learned is:

There is no subsitute for really getting to know another human being.

Truth and love are never far apart.

Persisting against discouragement is far more valuable than being optimistic.

Things go better when you give them your full, flexible, delighted attention.

Everyone is made to make music, period, and has a way of doing that whether they have found it yet or not.

Most things ARE as we observe but have a completely different reason or cause, and are headed somewhere positive we usually do not see.

It matters to be able to see movement-- to see that everything is a work in progress and not in need of judgment as much as of aware attention.

It takes longer if you don't start.

Building something (or starting something), no matter how useless the thing seems to be, is always better than tearing something down (or stopping a bad thing), no matter how necessary that seems to be.

Having a Mudcat nickname is suckier in the long run than using your own name.

And..... "THEY" are often right, as are you yourself, much oftener than would seem possible at any given point in present time.

~Susan