The best things in life are free

The best things in life are free

Good morning friends.

Thank you for stopping by. It’s great to be alive on May 26th, 2016. Sammy and Henry love to relax and do some people watching. They have made thousands of friends over the years just by sitting back.

I once asked both of them how they meet so many people. Sammy and Henry told me that when you smile at people, its like inviting them to come say hello. And then it occurred to me, smile more and you’ll meet new people and develop new friendships.

I guess its true what they say; “The best things in life are free”

Happy Thursday friends. Scott Smith for Sammy & Family.

Happy Halloween from Sammy & Family; 2015

Halloween 2015

Good morning friends.

Happy Halloween and Happy Saturday.  Win Win right there.  I went to google to find out the exact meaning of Halloween.  Here’s what I found; “The night of October 31, the eve of All Saints’ Day, commonly celebrated by children who dress in costume and solicit candy or other treats door-to-door.”

OK, that seems simple enough.  So with that friends, enjoy dressing up and getting lots of candy today.  When I was younger I would eat a lot of candy on Halloween and deliberately not brush my teeth to make my parents angry, lol. Guess whose teeth paid the price for that stubbornness ?

Sammy & Family wishes you everyone a very fun Halloween.

See you tonight.

Another day, another gift with Henry & Mickey Mouse

Henry and Mickey wanted to say good morning

Good morning friends.

Another day, another gift. It’s great to be alive on August 12th, 2015. Day 213 in Puerto Rico today. Time sure does fly, that’s why I count the days so i don’t lose the time.

OK, so today Henry has a message for us. His message is; “If you’re nice, we’re friends” Henry finds Mickey Mouse nice, so that in turn means their friends. The fact that mickey mouse is an inanimate stuffed animals is not the point. The rule is; If you’re nice, we’re friends. No judgments on who you are or what you are.

Happy Wednesday friends.

The Girl that almost was but the dog won me over

The girl that almost was but the dog won me over

Good evening friends.  OK, it looks like the story of one of my ex girlfriends and her dog won the votes.

So lets get right into it.  this was about 6 years ago. I was 40 years old and was doing the online dating thing like a full time job.  I was a different kind of online dater than most. Most people would have several dialogues over email, then get on the phone and chat for a few minutes and either set up a date or not.  You see I just wanted to go out. So my emails to women online were clear and to the point.

In my email to them I would say “Would you like to meet for drinks or dinner tonight?” 90 percent of people didn’t respond. Out of the 10 percent that did, some would say; “so tell me about yourself” — I would say “I will tell you about myself when we meet”  — Remember friends with online dating, they can read your profile, so its kind of a repetitive question from them.  Normally when i would say that it would end our dialogues and I would never hear from them again. Several people inside the 10 percent would say; ” I like a man who knows what he wants and directly asks for it” — So i would say “that’s great to hear”  But then some of them would say; “The problem is I already have plans tonight.” So I would say to them, OK reach out to me when you’re free and they never would.  But one or two gals out of the ten percent would say; “I can meet you at 6 pm tonight”  — And that’s all it takes folks, just one “Yes,’ and you get to meet a new person.

OK, I’m rambling.  On one particular night I met a woman out who grew up near the town I did and we had friends in common.  Now when I connect, I move very quickly, and I don’t mean in the hanky panky way.  I mean from “I want to see them a lot starting the next day.”  Within 3 weeks we were in a full fledged relationship.  We were talking moving in together, engagement, we were very into each other.  She had a dog, I won’t say his name, but she loved him like I love Sammy, Henry, Patrick, Jeffrey and Kelly.  And I absolutely loved her dog.   Anytime we saw each other I just wanted to play with her dog or take her out somewhere.  God forbid we just sat home and relaxed.

I wanted to be at the bars laughing with people and talking about light, dumb and breezy stuff, the dumber the better. This particular gal I was dating was a doctor.  After a while she said; “Listen, I really want to be together but I want to live  a slower and quieter life”  I knew what she meant, but I was not on the same page.  She was a really nice person too.

So she put it to me, she said “you have to choose us or this running around life that you have”  — And not running around with other ladies, but I just couldn’t sit still.  I didn’t like myself enough to want to sit with myself.  And living the quiet  life with her forced me to be with myself more than i was willing to be.

So we were at dinner and she asked me what i decided to do.  I told her I cannot slow down and live that kind of life. I really have strong feelings for you but I must maintain this pace in my life. I don’t know how to live any other way.  So she said, ” listen, I’m a doctor, this is not going to work out.  I think we have to call it off.

I felt badly because I knew she was right and I knew what a nice girl she was. Nonetheless, I said; “Listen, please don’t take this the wrong way, I have grown very attached to your dog, you work late hours and I have two dogs.  I think your dog would be happier with my two dogs and I, and would you be willing to give him up?”

Well friends, this is when things really went poorly.  She threw a drink in my face and said that was the worst question anyone has ever asked her in her life. She said  how dare you ?   Boy did I feel like a horses patoot.  I tell this story in gest looking back, but i do look back and feel bad about it.

In conclusion, when you and a nice person split for whatever reason, don’t ask them if you can keep their beloved pet they’ve had for 6 years.   #LearnedTheHardWay  #AnotherClassIsleptThrough

I made it through a Non rainy day on July 22nd, 2015

I made it through the Non rainy days

Good evening friends.

Thank you for stopping in.  Its great to be here with everyone.  Day 192 here in Puerto Rico.  Sammy & Family hopes everyone had a nice day today.  We still have had no rain here and continue with the water drought where we have water every other day.  Its literally sunny and beautiful everyday.  It reminds me of that movie “Pleasantville”

As for the water drought, at least i have an excuse not to shower on the non water days. I try to take the positives from all kinds of situations.  It reminds me of a couple of my college friends that were always in a good mood.  I used to ask them “why are you guys always happy ?”  They would turn around to me and say; “How come you’re now always happy?” I was like “Whatever you guys don’t get it”

I lived that way for 40 years.  Why do i keep repeating things like that ?  Because i know some of our shy friends out there are stuck like I was.  Its a false pretense to Deliberately not enjoy anything because you know at some point it might end.  Its upside down.  Enjoy what you can and take joy when you can get it.  Don’t worry life will throw enough _hit at you, life doesn’t need you to do its job for him, hes got plenty of challenges to throw at you.  What we don’t need is to make ourselves one of those challenges.  That’s where the expression; “Get out of your own way” came from.

OK friends, let’s close with three positive notions;

1. “Everyday we are born again, what we do today matters most.”   — Buddha —

2. I get up each day and do the best I can and I don’t take things personally.  Why?  Because its not personal, its life.

3. If you have writers block start listening to Barry Manilow music.  Barry was right when he sang ♫♫♫ I am music and write the songs ♫♫♫

Friends pardon my language, but holy shit, Barry Manilow really is Music.  Court adjourned.

Signing off from Puerto Rico, Scott Smith & Dr. Harp Seal for Sammy & Family.  And yes, Scott and Dr. Harp Seal are two different people, lol.

Poppy Tuesday, a Day of Hope

There's no place like Home

Good morning friends.  Welcome to Poppy Tuesday.   Poppy Tuesday’s are filled with hope.  Just remember Patrick’s start in life, not an easy one, but now he has a life with an overabundance of love and happiness.  Many of us personally and our pets can relate to that.

Sometimes through adversity and hardship life throws us a gift.  The key is to hold on to your hope and faith.  I’m sure during Patrick’s 10 months in that cage his little spirit must of been on the brink of breaking, but he held the line and now we’re all together happily in the Caribbean far from a little pet shop on 61st and Lexington where we found him.  I can tell you hundreds of stories of my 4 decades in NYC, but this Patrick story is 100 percent in the top 3 stories of my entire life in NY.  The other 2 two stories in the top 3, are Sammy & Henry.

I mention this story because its for all of us.  Keep your hope alive, the best days of your life have not happened yet. Life will try to test everyone at some point on another.  The question is do we let life break us where we end up missing the best part of it.  I would like to offer anyone out here some inspiration, life is never going to break me while I’m alive, no matter what hits I take.  I will not be broken and my reason is simple, I want to be happy.  And I can only have happiness it life does not break me.  So hang tough my friends, we have to roll with punches and take constructive happiness wherever we can get it.  After all, What are we all here for ?

Have a great Poppy Tuesday.

Sammy & Family calling it a night on June 17th, 2015

Goodnight from Henry & Family on June 17th, 2015

Good evening friends.

Hope everyone had a nice day today.  If you didn’t, take it easy on yourself, things could get better starting as early as tonight.  Big sleeps are important, sometimes a great sleep ends up being the solution.

Life was good today on June 17th, 2015.  It didn’t have to be, thank God that it is.  I repeat that a lot because I don’t like not knowing where I am in the forest.  What i mean by that is many people today probably said, “wow June 17th already, feels like Memorial Day was just yesterday”  By the way there is nothing wrong with that, I’m just not comfortable with weeks disappearing at a time without checking into each and every day.

Got some happy upbeat things coming for our animal loving friends around the world.  Still in the works, so that’s all i can right now, I’m sure everyone is at the edge of their seats like when they first saw “Jaws” or something, lolol.

I saw a Bill Murry quote recently i wanted to share, ” I’m suspicious of people who don’t like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn’t like a person”   How simple and brilliant is that ?

Lets close with two positive notions tonight;

1. When I wake up tomorrow I will be a day closer to whatever is bothering me not bothering me anymore.  Time heals all wounds.  Even if you cannot heal yourself, time will heal you for you.

2. Just because I was like that, doesn’t mean I have to stay like that. I’m defined by the right here, right now.  What’s done is done, but what’s now is now and they don’t have to be connected.

Signing off from Puerto Rico on day 157, Scott Smith for Sammy & Family.

Vanessa and Henry on Friday night, May 29th 2015

Vanessa & Henry on Friday May 29th, 2015

Good evening friends.

Thank you for stopping by. Vanessa and Henry wanted to welcome everyone to the weekend and say goodnight.  These are two of my six angels right here.  We hope y’all had a nice end to the week.  Its time to be with family, enjoy, rejuvenate and just be.

Several of our friends have reached out to me recently going through hard times, I want you all to know that you are never disturbing me, I enjoy making people feel better as people had done for me during my darkest times.  Let me stress as well, that anytime friends reach out to me, it will always remain confidential.  Please never be confused about the fact that I am so transparent about my personal life that I would do the same to any of you, I would never do that, NEVER.

So lets close this night with three positive notions.

1. You are not alone, you have Sammy & Family and we respond and share our experiences to help others feel better.

2. Sometimes a great night sleep resets us to a positive state, and if does not, time will heal you either way.

3. Terms like; “Would have, Could have, should have” are recipes for unhappiness.  Eradicate them from your vocabulary.  Dwelling on the past steals from your present and future.  Remember, we are in the business of seeking happiness, so lets great rid of looking back all the time and concentrate on doing better in the present.

Signing off from Puerto Rico on day 139, Dr. Harp Seal for Sammy & Family.

Birthday Fun With the Gang

Pret Birthday Party Fun

Good morning friends.

We hope everyone a nice long holiday weekend.

Here’s  a picture of a  little Pre birthday party fun with the crew.  As you can see Jeffrey is as sweet as they come.  It was a treat having him for my birthday this year.  This was real nice moment for all of us.

Life is good today on May 26th, 2015.  Tip of the day; We all deserve a nice day today.  Give today a chance.

Catch up with you tonight friends.