HPEFUL

While parking my car the other day, I saw that a car near mine bore a license plate that read, "HPEFUL."   That same evening, my friend Mary Ellen posted on Facebook that she enjoys seeing "a cow named Hope on Highway 12 on the way to Madison."  These days when so much of the news seems to be grim and depressing and all but hope-filled, I think we benefit from giving ourselves as many good doses of hope as possible.  If we need to be reminded by artwork along the highway or a license plate on a neighboring car, that's quite alright with me.  I may lose other things along the way in my life, but I would hope that I'll always hang onto hope.