Today is World Vegan Day

Lucy, who lives at Rooterville animal sanctuary.

We have our own day.

Having a blog that includes veganism, I get to interact with folks about veganism every day. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative.

I still get surprised when someone attacks my veganism, which is ultimately a very personal decision for me, one made because I did not want to be part of cruelty and torture that happens so to appease taste buds.

In January I will celebrate 20 years of being 100% vegan which means for 20 years I have consumed no meat, dairy, eggs, honey or any other by-product from animals. Yes, this also means that my belts and dress shoes are not leather and my ties to not contain silk.

As every human my age and up knows, life goes by very fast. It's difficult to grasp that I have been vegan that long. Although I became vegan for animal cruelty issues, the benefits of being vegan as I get older include being healthier. At 47 I ran my first half marathon. Looking forward to my third next May at age 50.

I know many who read my blog are not vegan. I hope I am able to provide here information (see all of the links) and life experience (read the posts) that show how easy being vegan is and how it is available to anyone. Myths around veganism and protein and cost are just those, myths. The benefits around being vegan, to you, the environment and to the animals, are endless.

So happy World Vegan Day.

Kindness, decency, family. Ireland said yes!

The referendum on civil marriage in Ireland is done.

Votes are being counted. The numbers coming out remind me of the percentage numbers while watching states in the U.S. vote against marriage equality, yet reversed.

In some areas over 70% voted yes to support equality.

I have followed this story for some time. I've watched both campaigns closely and yesterday morning I could barely contain myself as people went to vote.

They went to vote with their families, with their parents, their grandparents, their neighbors, their rugby clubs. They traveled from all over the world to, as one man put it, "mark a box". One photo I saw was of three generations of a family after they had all gone to the poll to vote yes.

One thing that I noticed while watching all of this was the huge amount of conversation around kindness. And decency. And family.

Meaning, a yes vote was the kind thing to do. The decent thing to do. After all, we are talking about rights for our family.

Young people rocked it. They campaigned and they voted. Imagine what our equality laws would look like if young people in the U.S. did the same.


As Ireland's Minister of Health, Leo Varadkar said, "I wanted to be an equal citizen in my own country and today I am".

I am ecstatic.

I guess I should also add here, in case this is the first of my blog posts you have read, that I am Irish. In the 1920's my grandfather left County Mayo for the U.S. He settled in Detroit, married my grandmother, became a U.S. citizen and was a dad to my dad and his six siblings.

Thanks for reading.  Éirinn go Brách!

Living your dream

Our move to the Los Angeles area is realizing a dream we have had for years to live in southern California. I want to live there to be closer to the beach, where I can surf, kayak and just relax while reading a good book. The weather, food, diversity and awesome farmers markets are a bonus.

I look forward to so much. Yes, there are down sides. For instance, I constantly hear horror stories about the traffic and just getting from A to B. We will definitely have to get used to all that. But for us our dream will be coming true.

Life is short. I say many times that I was 28 and then one day I woke up and I was 49. Just like that.

Life is such a gift. Every day is precious, and not guaranteed.

Live your dream.

Take that cooking class.

Ask that man or woman on a date.

Organize that protest.

Take that trip.

Don't wait for tomorrow.

You are totally worth it!

Thanks for reading!

The darkness subsides

I have many times told a story about when I was in the Navy. I spent many hours on ships standing on an outside part looking out to the vast ocean. I remember looking at the beauty and feeling peaceful.

Then I would start to think. And within several minutes my peace had been turned upside down. By me.

These days I tell another story, which has a lot to do with that. The story is that I can be doing awesome, feeling really good, loving life. Then let me sit and start thinking and boy does that change.

I am amazed sometimes at how quickly I can get absorbed by darkness. Sometimes it takes me by surprise. Most times the reality of my life is that all is really well. I actually have to think of negative things or think of fears or mistakes or people I am having issues with to feel in that dark place.

I know what to do and what not to do to stay out of the darkness.

Tell my husband. Call a friend. Pray and/or meditate. Stop my mental masturbation. Help someone. Get out of myself. Write a gratitude list.

And sometimes I just allow myself to be in that dark place. I try to be the most positive person I can. I try to let go, to live and let live, and to love. Doing this 100% of the time is just not possible for me.

The days of shaming myself for getting into a dark place are over. I actually honor the darkness, or I guess a better way to say what I am feeling about that is to say that I acknowledge it but do not live in it. Like a heard in a meeting once "yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I don't have to set up camp there"!

For me the darkness does indeed subside. My dark moments are much less than they were growing up and into my twenties. My family and inner circle have a lot to do with that. Being loved and being able to love certainly helps.

I wanted to share this blog post because I know others get into darkness at times. Social media is filled with happy people. People who are always fine. I wanted to remind folks that even though life is really awesome, sometimes the darkness comes.

And it's OK.

Thanks for reading.