Eleven years ago, in June 2015, I found myself navigating a grief that felt impossibly heavy. It had been two years since I lost my father, and the silence he left behind was deafening. Like so many others walking the path of bereavement, I was haunted by a singular, persistent question: "Is he okay?"
That ache became the foundation of "A Father's Day in Heaven."
Back then, I did not just want to write a memorial; I needed to create a bridge. I sat down and wrote from his perspective, desperate to hear, in my own heart, the words: "I'm okay, Barb. I'm okay." Those lines were never meant to be a performance. They were my own personal lifeline, a reminder that while death changes our relationship, it does not sever the tether of love.
From a Memorial to a Musical Story
Throughout the last decade, I have seen that same question: "Is my parent okay"? echoed by so many who share in this loss. It is a universal longing for reassurance.
Because of this, I decided it was time to breathe new life into those original 2015 words. On June 13, 2026, I revisited the piece, expanding it into a full-fledged song and lyric video.
While the soul of the lyrics remains rooted in the comfort I sought years ago, I composed an entirely new second verse to deepen the narrative.
The Message: He Is Still With You
Ultimately, this song is a message of profound peace. Through these lyrics, the father figure speaks to his daughter not from a place of absence but from a place of continued presence.
He reminds her, and anyone listening, that they are never truly alone. His greatest hope, reflected in the lyrics, is that we continue to embrace our lives with joy, even in the shadow of loss.
Whether you are missing your own dad this Father's Day or grieving another cherished soul, my hope is that these lyrics offer you a moment of solace.
May these words remind you that love remains, steady and unbroken.
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This piece is incredibly personal to me, capturing the fading chapter of my mother's life as we navigated the grueling journey of caregiving.
While it was a time of immense challenge and heartache, I would do it all over again just to be with her. I miss her so much; if I could give my breath to see her for even a minute, I would. These lyrics were written specifically from what occurred during that time in my life, yet I know this is not just my story. It is a description of the reality for millions of mothers and daughters who have walked this difficult path.
Here's The Lyric Storyboard I Wrote & Produced To Tell This Story:
Because this is a four-minute song, every line carries a specific purpose and meaning. While I cannot detail the entire narrative here, I want to highlight the core moments that defined this journey.
In the first verse, I write, "I watched you in the kitchen trying to lift that small plate; it hurt to see you struggle to do the basic things each day." While it sounds simple, this was a daily, painful occurrence. Whether it was opening a jar or managing the simple act of lifting, her hands would shake, and we had to find tools to assist her. It was a constant reminder of how life had shifted into something far more fragile.
I also wrote, "To me, you were the bravest with everything you had to face, you'd always say 'I'm fine' knowing that wasn't the case." My mother was from the "I'm fine" generation. Even when the doctors looked at her test results and then turned to me with concern, she would insist, "I'm fine, Barb, don't worry." As I get older, I've come to understand that she didn't want anyone to reiterate her ailments; she already knew them. But at the time, it was frustrating to watch her try to hold her struggle back to protect us. It was a valiant effort, and I didn't want to break her strength, but we saw the truth behind the words.
The chorus asks, "Mama, I can't fix it, I can't make this go away. I can only hold your hand now while you whisper I'm okay." When I wrote this, I kept thinking about what I would do if I had magic powers. I couldn't "fix" the aging process, but I realized what I truly wanted: to step back in time and live just one day when she was in her prime.
There are other realities referenced in the song, like the challenge of getting in and out of her lift chair, and the terrifying process of the stairs. I remember walking directly behind her, leaning against her for support as she held the railing; this was the same woman who once ran the world and bossed us all around. Watching that shift requires a kind of strength you never knew you possessed.
Finally, I believe a song needs to reach for the light. I don't provide a perfect ending, but I do create something uplifting. I end the song with the image of my father coming for her when she passed. I'm standing there, feeling a sense of relief knowing he had her hand, that he was holding her when she crossed over, and that I will be with them again when it is my time.
If you are going through this, or have walked this road, I totally understand your agony. I know the absolute struggle of this experience. My heart is with you, and I truly hope this song brings you a little bit of empathetic peace.
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Bride Flip Flops: There are a variety of designs that will work great for weddings; however there is no specific wedding category. There is a bride category though. These flip flops can be customized. Many brides are choosing comfort over style when it comes to their feet on their wedding day. I think that's pretty cool.
Butterfly Flip Flops: These butterflies might be considered more abstract, but I figured they'd be easier to find if I placed them in a Butterfly category.
Christmas Flip Flops: Flip flops are considered a warm weather shoe or sandal. For those who find themselves in a warm weather location over the Christmas and winter holidays, their flip flops can still fit the season.
Floral Flip Flops: Here you will find a mix of realistic, photo, and abstract designs.
Fruit Flip Flops: As of the writing of this blog, the current choices are lemons, realistic pineapples, and more artistic pineapples.
New Products: As mentioned in my earlier blogs about my various stores on Zazzle, the New Products category is automatically assigned by Zazzle. There are usually no products in this category, unless I happen to assign a category when designing a product.
Patriotic Flip Flops: Here you will find a couple of fireworks designs, and a star pattern design in red, white, and blue.
Patterns and Shapes: The Patterns and Shapes category was growing. Instead of making subcategories for this, I made two additional categories; one being Polka Dot Flip Flops, and the other one being Striped Flip Flops. The remaining designs in this category includes hearts, circles, weave patterns, and more.
Polka Dot Flip Flops: There are several colors to choose from here, and also a couple of black and white designs.
Striped Flip Flops: There are a variety of striped patterns and colors to choose from here. This is my favorite striped pattern. It reminds me of the straight swirled candies that you can find in places like Cracker Barrel.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
I wrote and produced A Mother's Wedding Blessing from Heaven on May 20th, 2026, as part of my continuing wedding series collection of original songs and lyrics.
Over time, I've wanted this collection to reflect not only the joy and celebration surrounding weddings, but also the deeper emotions that so often exist quietly beneath the surface. Weddings are filled with love, hope, memories, family traditions, and sometimes heartbreak, too.
This particular song was inspired by daughters who are preparing for one of the most important days of their lives without their mother physically beside them.
I had previously written a song honoring fathers who had passed who would not be present for a wedding day, but I kept thinking about the mother-daughter bond and how uniquely deep that relationship can be. For many women, their mother is the person they imagined helping them choose a dress, calming their nerves, sharing tears of joy, and witnessing the beginning of a new chapter.
When that presence is missing, the loss can feel overwhelming.
With this song, I wanted to create something that could bring comfort during those moments. Here's the song as posted on the Lyrics About Life Facebook page.
Maybe it's played privately while getting ready for the ceremony. Maybe it becomes part of a bridal shower playlist, a quiet tribute during a wedding weekend, or simply a song a bride listens to alone when she needs to feel close to her mother again.
More than anything, I wanted the song to carry reassurance.
The heart of the message is that a mother's love does not disappear. In the lyrics, the mother watches over her daughter throughout the wedding journey. She sees the choices she's making, the emotions she's carrying, and the woman she has become.
One of the most important ideas I wanted to express is that every mother hopes for her daughter's happiness above all else. No mother wishes hardship upon her child. Deep down, every mother wants her daughter to find her own version of a fairy-tale ending: a life filled with love, safety, and happiness.
That thought became the emotional center of the song.
I also included reflections on childhood, because weddings often bring back memories of growing up, moments that suddenly feel close again. A wedding day can remind someone not only of who they are becoming, but also of where they came from and who helped shape them.
To every daughter experiencing this kind of loss, my heart truly goes out to you.
I hope A Mother's Wedding Blessing from Heaven brings even a small measure of peace and comfort, and reminds you that love does not end simply because someone is no longer physically here. On a day as meaningful as your wedding day, the bond between a mother and daughter can still be deeply felt in the quietest moments.
Sometimes love stays beside us in ways we cannot see, but still somehow feel.
Note: This song is also available on YouTube, but the version featured in this post is the final version that will be released to streaming services at the end of June 2026.
I made one small change before release by reducing the percussion near the end. The YouTube version still contains the earlier mix.
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This is the sixth of a seven part series of my various stores on Zazzle.
This store features my designs on double sided paper, rubber stamps, and custom binders that can be used for this fun and creative scrapbooking craft. Besides scrapbooking, these fun paper choices can be used in card making, creating vision boards, and more. What might you make with scrapbook paper?
Scrapbook Paper
New Products:
The first category listed in this store is New Products, which is a catch category in case I didn't already select a category when I designed the product. This category is automatically included by Zazzle.
The remaining categories are Scrapbook Albums, Scrapbook Paper, and Scrapbooking Stamps.
Scrapbook Albums:
Binders are used for the scrapbook albums and they can also be used as photo albums. So far, there are options for baby, graduation, and wedding. There aren't any subcategories at this point. The main design is on the front, and parts of that design are included on the spine and back. The graduation binder is an example.
There are a variety of subcategories in the Scrapbook Paper section. I did not include a specific subcategory for Wedding, as many of the blends, heart designs, patterns, etc., can be used for wedding backgrounds as well as for other themes and events, as in this turquoise polka dot option. I can see this being a pretty background design for a turquoise or teal themed wedding or even as stationery.
As of this writing, the current subcategories are: Abstract, Affirmations, Animal Prints, Autumn, Baby, Blends, Blue, Christmas, Floral, Graduation, Halloween, Heart, Patterns and Shapes, Peace, Pink, Rustic and Vintage, Shamrock, Swirl, and Turquoise.
There can be quite a few that overlap in these subcategories; you may want to search for a particular color, design type, etc., to help locate the design theme that you are looking for.
Scrapbook Stamps:
These are rubber stamps, used for stamping. There are a variety of designs here to choose from, but currently no subcategories. It is just shy of having more than one page of items to peruse. When ordering a rubber stamp and looking a product page, Zazzle will show you the colors of ink pads that are available for purchase.
Quite a few of these designs are outline designs, which one can color in whenever they are making their paper craft design. For instance, the umbrella drawing can be used for a rainy day card, or a scrapbook featuring baby. The umbrella and handle can be colored in, by hand, to coordinate with whatever you are creating.
A lot of these backgrounds can be found in the scrapbook paper in paperbacks that I designed using Canva. I have posted these paperbacks on Amazon through KDP. Many of the designs in the paperbacks are further embellished with different items from Canva. You can check out my index of these paperback books here for your scrapbooking and other paper creation desires: Cheryl Paton Scrapbook Paper.
Thank you for visiting. Your comments and questions are welcome. Happy scrapbooking.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
Life Read Me a Story: A Song About Storms, Healing, and the Wisdom of Nature
Some lyrics are written to entertain. Others are written to comfort people during difficult seasons of life. Life Read Me a Story was written from a reflective place. It is a song about emotional exhaustion, healing, resilience, and the idea that nature itself may hold lessons about how human beings survive hardship.
At the heart of the song is a simple but powerful question. What if life were easy all the time? What if there were no storms, no struggles, no heartbreak, and no challenges to overcome?
The song explores those questions through the voices of a husband and wife sitting together in their kitchen, emotionally drained and quietly wondering why life cannot simply feel peaceful. As the song unfolds, Mother Earth becomes the voice responding to them, gently explaining that growth and balance cannot exist without difficult seasons.
Verse One: Wanting Life to Feel Easy
The opening verse captures a feeling many people experience but rarely say out loud. The couple is tired. They are questioning why they always have to be strong. They wonder what it would feel like to wake up without pressure, fear, sadness, or emotional weight waiting outside their front door.
The lyrics imagine a life in which storms simply pass over them, and the sun shines continuously. They dream about a life untouched by hardship, where nothing interrupts their peace and nothing challenges who they are.
This part of the song is not about weakness. It is about emotional fatigue. Sometimes people do not want riches, excitement, or success. Sometimes they simply want relief.
The couple represents anyone who has ever asked themselves why life sometimes feels so heavy. If you can listen with headphones, I've structured pretty detail in the music.
The Chorus: Mother Nature Responds
The chorus shifts perspectives completely. Instead of the couple speaking, nature begins answering them.
Mother Earth responds with calm wisdom, explaining that all living things depend on balance. Rain serves a purpose. Storms strengthen roots. Clouds nourish rivers. Even flowers depend on darker days to grow.
One of the song's central messages is found in the line about the sun shining continuously. Although endless sunshine sounds beautiful, the song reminds us that constant heat would eventually destroy life rather than sustain it. Without rain, the Earth would dry out. Rivers would disappear. Growth would stop.
Nature survives because it adapts. Forests recover after fires. Trees continue growing after storms. Rivers overflow and eventually settle again. The chorus suggests that human beings are not separate from that process. Like nature, people are also capable of healing and restoring balance after difficult seasons.
The chorus is designed as a comforting response to the couple's pain. It does not dismiss their struggles. Instead, it gently reminds them that hardship does not always mean destruction. Sometimes it is part of becoming stronger.
Verse Two: Acknowledging That Pain Can Feel Too Heavy
In the second verse, the couple begins to understand the message, but they are still struggling emotionally. They admit that some storms feel overwhelming. They understand the idea of growth, but they also recognize that too much rain can leave roots tangled and unstable.
This is an important emotional moment in the song because it refuses to romanticize pain. The lyrics openly acknowledge that life can become exhausting and difficult to carry.
Mother Nature responds again, this time with empathy rather than explanation alone. The Earth itself has experienced destruction, imbalance, storms, and rebuilding. Yet despite everything, it continues finding ways to restore itself.
The message becomes deeply personal. If nature can recover after devastation, perhaps human beings can too.
The couple slowly begins shifting their perspective. Instead of only asking why hardship exists, they begin listening to what life may be trying to teach them through those experiences.
The Bridge: Accepting the Journey Without Pretending Pain Is Easy
The bridge brings the song's emotional meaning together.
By this point, the couple has not escaped life's difficulties. Their problems have not magically disappeared. What has changed is their understanding of struggle itself.
The lyrics acknowledge that struggle is not punishment, and stillness is not always peace. Without challenges, there would be nothing pushing people to grow, heal, evolve, or discover their own strength.
One of the most meaningful lines in the bridge says:
"I am the flower, I am the tree. I needed a weathered journey to discover what I can truly be."
That line represents the entire heart of the song. Human beings are part of nature, not separate from it. Just like trees, flowers, rivers, and forests, people are shaped by changing seasons. Some seasons feel beautiful. Others feel pain. Yet every season leaves behind lessons, strength, wisdom, and growth.
The final message of Life Read Me a Story is not that pain is enjoyable or easy. The message is that renewal remains possible, even after the darkest storms.
The Meaning Behind the Song
What inspired this piece was the realization that nature constantly demonstrates resilience. Storms pass through forests. Trees fall. Rivers flood. Yet somehow, the Earth continues to search for balance and renewal.
There is something comforting in that idea.
Not because it minimizes human pain, but because it reminds us that healing is woven into the rhythm of life itself.
Life Read Me a Story was written to acknowledge life's complications honestly while still offering hope. The song recognizes that people will face storms they never asked for. However, it also reminds us that growth often happens beneath the surface long before we can see it.
Sometimes the rain is not the end of the story. Sometimes it is what teaches the roots how to grow deeper.
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This is the fifth of a seven part series of my various stores on Zazzle.
This store is called PositiveAffirmation. I already had an Affirmation category in my CherylsArt store on Zazzle; however, it kept growing. To keep things cleaner, I created another store, also featuring affirmation products. My intent was to have all new designs in this new store, but I inadvertently had some overlap. For the most part though, the designs in these two stores are mostly unique to each of these stores.
The categories, so far, in my PositiveAffirmation store on Zazzle are:
Apparel and Accessories:
Here you will find Aprons, Belt Buckles, Pin on buttons, Hats, Necklaces, Ties, Tote Bags, and Tshirts.
Some of the designs in this store are simple one word affirmations. The words are usually made from a cutout letter font, featuring a photo of some of my flowers for the inside of each outlined letter. I think they give an extra added appeal to the affirmation.
The Home, Pets, Car category includes, Car (products), Clocks, Keychains, Kitchen, Luggage Tags, Ornaments, Pillows, Posters, Signs, Tiles, and Wall Art.
I usually write in an affirmation, but on this particular design, I made a template that is to be filled in with the person's own favorite affirmation. I know that using a mirror when reciting my affirmations have proven to be very helpful, and wanted to encourage others to try the same method. I designed the artwork for the mirror.
The New Products category is automatically an option by Zazzle, assigning any newly created product here, if the designer doesn't already give the new product a category, when designing it. This category is usually empty.
Office and School:
This category includes Binders, Business Cards, Dry Erase Boards, Mousepads, Notebooks, and Stickers.
An affirmation can serve as subtle reminders each time we see it, i.e. when we see it on our notebook.
As of this writing, there are only two items in this Category, so there are no subcategories as of yet. At some time, there will be more. Your suggestions and requests are welcome. As well as any requests for other categories too.
Stationery:
The Stationery category includes Address Labels, Cards, Notepads, Postcards, and Stationery.
Address labels may be thought of as pretty small for an affirmation, however a simple reminder to Give Thanks can be a timely reminder for Thanksgiving, as well as throughout the year.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
This is the fourth of a seven part series of my various stores on Zazzle.
The store that I'm reviewing here is MazePuzzles. I already had a Birthday category in my CherylsArt store on Zazzle; however, I knew that I wanted to make a variety of maze puzzle themes, so I went with creating a store for just this theme. Another thing that sets this store apart from my CherylsArt store, is that I used very little of my own artwork in designing these maze puzzles. I created most of these puzzle designs from designs on Canva, of which I subscribe to.
In my MazePuzzles store, I show the Collections first on the landing page; these are sorted alphabetically by theme, followed by product type. A design theme collection is the perfect place to look if you're planning a themed birthday party. There you will find all the different products for that particular theme.
The product type collection is the perfect place to look if you know you just want a birthday card, or want to see all the different designs in one easy to look at place.
Here are how the product categories are arranged in my MazePuzzles store.
Birthday Maze Greeting Cards:
It's great seeing all the different maze puzzles pictured in one easy to view location. It can help you decide which maze puzzle you want to go with. The maze puzzles not only include different animals and such, the puzzle themselves range from pretty easy to somewhat harder.
The Monkey and Bananas maze can be considered easy or hard, depending on whether the overlapping vines might offer just some added fun or confusion!
Here is another option for inviting your guests. The invitations differ from the greeting cards, as there was enough room to add the party details to the front of the cards.
Birthday Maze Notepads can be a fun addition to a maze puzzle themed birthday party. All the kids can work a puzzle while they're waiting for cake to be served, or in between game playing, etc. The notepads are 5.5 inches by 6 inches and there are 40 sheets per pad, making it easy for kids to try again should their sheet get messed up. A larger, 8.5 by 11 inch option is available, but the purchasers would need to edit their selection to get the whole design to fit within the printing area.
The maze puzzles are offered on the 7 inch square paper plates. The square can also be ordered on 9 inch. There are also round plates offered in the same sizes as the square plates, and also a round 7 inch bowl.
Birthday Maze Postcards:
The postcards can be used instead of greeting cards or invitations, to invite the guests. It can save on paper usage and possibly postage.
Birthday Maze Napkins:
The maze theme is printed on paper napkins. All of the items in this store are easy to personalize using the provided template forms.
Maze Puzzle Paper Cups:
The maze puzzle design is just printed on one side of the paper cups. Having hosted birthday parties before at an art store, I could just imagine young kids turning their cups all around to view the maze puzzle from alternate sides, and then you know what might happen next. Anyway, I decided to go with the one sided view!
The yard signs are a fun way to show guests where the party is. These signs are printed on lightweight, weather resistant, corrugated plastic, that is 4 mm thick. They are listed to last for 6-9 months for outdoor use, depending on weather conditions. They come in a choice of shapes, including circle, house, helmet, and arrow. Various sizes are offered for the different shapes. You may need to edit to get the design to fit into whichever shape and or size that you select.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
This lyric video is one I wrote and produced, titled "Your Destiny, Your Way." At its core, it's simple: chase your dreams, love Mom.
I created this piece with my sons in mind, but truly, it's for sons and daughters alike. I just naturally wrote it from a son's perspective because that's the life I've lived as a mother.
And while this message comes straight from my heart and my own experiences, I write knowing that this isn't just my story. It belongs to so many of us. The way we love our children, the way we hope for them, the way we quietly stand behind them wanting them to build a life that feels like their own, that's something most mothers understand without needing it explained.
I wrote this for all of my sons. But if I'm being honest, there is one in particular who is out there chasing his dreams in a big, bold way. This song leans toward him. It's inspired by him, and it's for him.
That said, I already know this won't be the only one. I have ideas for each of my kids, what I want to say, how I want to say it, and how I want them to feel when they hear my words. This is just one piece in something much bigger I'll create over time.
At the end of this post, I'll include the full message I shared alongside the video, because it ties everything together.
How I Wrote These Lyrics
I don't often have songs come together this quickly.
Actually, that's not entirely true, but it is rare.
Most of the time, I think deeply about the story I'm trying to tell. I map out where it's going, how I'll move into the chorus, what I want the bridge to say, and how it all ties together in a meaningful way. I'm very intentional when I write.
But this one, it just poured out of me.
The idea came to me on the night of April 30, 2026. As with most of my inspiration, it hit me while I was sitting in my room watching TV. And then suddenly, there it was, that feeling of I need to write this right now.
So I did.
I started writing that night, and before I knew it, the lyrics were there. Not forced, not overthought, just flowing. The story unfolded as I wrote it, rather than me trying to guide it into place.
I finished the entire project the next day, on May 1, 2026, and published it that same day.
From start to finish, I would say I spent about 18 hours on it.
And I'll be honest, once I start something like this, I can't stop. I have to see it through. I feel this deep pull to get it out of me and into the world. It's not pressure exactly, but it is a kind of urgency. Like something inside me is asking not to be held onto.
And I've learned to listen to that.
The Lines That Mattered Most to Me
There are so many personal meanings woven into these lyrics, but there are a few lines that I really wanted to land.
"Dance in darkness, cry in lights."
Interestingly, I originally wrote this the other way around.
But it didn't sit right.
It's easy to celebrate in the light and hide in the dark. That's the natural way most of us move through the world. But I wanted to flip that.
Dance in your quiet moments. Celebrate your wins without needing an audience. Let those moments belong to you.
And when it comes to the harder parts, don't be afraid to let them be seen. Not everything, not your whole story laid bare, but enough to be real. Enough to show that the path wasn't effortless.
There's strength in that kind of honesty.
"You can't buy any chances; they already belong inside you."
This one was important to me.
There's this idea that opportunity can sometimes be bought with money, influence, or connections. And yes, those things can open doors in certain ways.
But your real chances, the ones that matter, those are not for sale.
They come from within you, your drive, your courage, your willingness to take a step forward when you don't know how it will turn out.
You don't purchase that. You become that.
"The pressure to be someone you were never meant to be has been broken. Take the pieces to build your dreams."
This line comes from something I've seen over time and reflected on in my own generation.
There was a lot of pressure to follow certain paths, to choose what was considered stable, traditional, and expected.
And sometimes, people didn't take the wrong path, but they took a path that wasn't truly theirs.
That pressure can come from others or from within ourselves.
But what I see now, especially in my children's generation, is something different. There's more freedom, more openness, more willingness to build a life from the inside out.
And that's what this line is about, letting go of that pressure and stepping into something that actually fits who you are.
“Everyone of us knows our own way, but we fight it desperately, too scared to step outside of how we’re seen.”
This lyric is exactly what it says.
Most of us, if not all of us, feel a calling at some point in our lives. There’s something inside of us that knows the direction we want to go, even if we don’t fully understand it yet.
But stepping outside of how others see us can get in our way.
Whether we realize it or not, we allow those outside perceptions to shape our choices. We hesitate, we second-guess, we adjust ourselves to fit an image that was never truly ours to begin with.
And in doing that, we can slowly drift away from what we already knew deep down.
Final Thoughts
I wrote these lyrics on April 30 and completed the production on May 1, 2026.
What inspired me most was watching my four sons grow into their own lives, each one building something different, something uniquely theirs.
It also made me reflect on my own youth, growing up in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the path forward often felt more defined and less flexible. There was a pull toward tradition that did not always leave room for something unconventional.
But the world has changed.
And while those pressures still exist, I've seen a shift, a beautiful one, toward creating a life that starts from within.
This message is for all my children.
But especially for the one who is out there right now, chasing something big.
I want him, and all of them, to know this.
I'm right behind you. Every step of the way.
The old rules only stay alive if we keep believing in them.
So don't.
Create your own way.
To my sons,
Chase your dreams.
Be brave.
Plan well, work smart,
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Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
This is the third of a seven part series of my various stores on Zazzle. I'm going through them alphabetically.
When I went into private practice as a literacy tutor for adults, I looked around for various teaching tools that weren't geared towards kids. There was very little to choose from. I used to design worksheets for students, including word search puzzles and more, to help my students have something they could do to help reinforce their newly learned skills.
I had made a few basic flash card for learning basic words, for those that were more at the beginning level. After I left that, and started creating art and the like on Zazzle, I got the idea to design flash cards for reading, that were geared towards adult learners.
I included a photo or artwork on one side and customizable text on the reverse side.
Here are the categories in my Custom Flash Cards store on Zazzle.
Adjectives Reading Flashcards:
Adjectives are words that are used to describe a noun, a thing, such as a fuzzy peach.
The Alphabet Cards are not flashcards, but are tutorial cards for the alphabet. It shows directional arrows on the letters, to help students to master the writing of each letter. The majority of students that I worked with already new the alphabet, but those who are true beginners can appreciate a tutorial that is geared for adult learners.
The Animal Reading Flashcards category features a variety of animals, from wildlife to domestic animals.
DIY Flashcards:
The DIY Flashcards category features basic instructions on one side of the flashcard, and a placeholder for the purchaser to upload their photo on the reverse side.
Floral Reading Flashcards:
The Floral Reading Flashcards features a variety of flowers, including a surprise of the word MOM spelled out with flowers. I do not have a Holiday category at this point, but that might be a good idea to do.
Food Reading Flashcards:
This category features a variety of food items including fruit, vegetables, a couple of entrees including pizza, and desserts.
This category features common insects in the United States. If you have a request for an insect that is unique to your area, do let me know in a comment below.
Love Cards:
The Love Cards are not flashcards, but offer a couple of options to students that want to express their love to someone, with something that is personal to them.
This category is automatically assigned by Zazzle, if a specialized category isn't already picked upon designing of the new product. This category is normally empty.
Number Flashcards:
These number flashcards feature artwork of an item that has something that can be counted, along with the numerical number and the word for that number, on one side, and just the word for the number on the reverse side. The text can be easily customized should the tutor want to use these flashcards for a different purpose.
Personalized Family Flashcards:
The Personalized Family Flashcards are to help the student recognize words that can describe a family member. The purchaser is to upload a different photo from the student, so that these cards can be personal to them. Any of these cards can be personalized with different text, and for relatives and or friends that haven't been already specifically made; i.e. any flashcard with a female photo on it can be used to make a card for an aunt.
Places Reading Flashcards:
This category represents common places, like a ball field; a well known place, like the Eiffel Tower.
Transportation Reading Flashcards:
These flashcards features different types of transportation, and even a drawing of a space shuttle for those who are interested in space.
Verbs Reading Flashcards:
Verbs describe a type of action, such as this flashcard for hand washing.
I had an adult student ask me to go over the various words that could be found on restrooms. I had never paid much attention to them before, but did do a search of this special request. On one restroom for women, the word used was Sheilas. Not at all what most people may expect when they're out an about and want to use the appropriate restroom for them.
So there you have it. If you know anybody who can benefit from these cards, whether they be tutors or learners, do pass this blog along to them. Thank you.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
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