Making your life soft and gentle is a life choice, and it’s your choice alone.

As we get older and increase our wisdom, we normally shift our priorities in life. Spending time with the ones that we love, and truly appreciating them, becomes more important. Becoming aware of the intricately-portrayed, yet simple, beauty around us can help us greater endure hardships and concentrate more on accentuating the positives in our life. Encountering hardships are a certainty in life, and we each must address them as best we can. On the other hand, the beauty of life is usually taken for granted. Being aware of beauty, experiencing it, and cherishing it, should always be a part of our life. Not taking advantage of a new opportunity to experience beauty is simply an opportunity wasted. This heartfelt collection of prose will mellow the heart as it explores life, love, beauty, nature, happiness, losses, dreams and nostalgic memories. Take time to enjoy these unique observations, and discover the soft and gentle aspects of life for yourself.

Jim was the youngest of eleven children and grew up on a farm near the rural, small town of Metamora, Indiana. From an early age, all of the children were expected to help with the farm chores, which consisted of raising a large garden, picking berries, putting up hay, milking cows, raising crops, and anything else that went along with living on a farm. Everything took a back seat to work, but the children always found time to play and establish memories that would stay with them forever. The family farm still survives nearly a hundred years after Jim’s grandparents settled there, and his love for the land has led to him owning part of that farm for 44 years and still counting. In addition, he has owned much of the valley surrounding it. His early passion for writing began in that same valley, and that same passion has remained undiminished since.