Happiness

"It was Don Paolo's birthday and all the people of the village were gathered in the piazza to celebrate him. The band played, the wine flowed, the children danced, and, as he stood for a moment alone under the pergola, a little girl approached the beloved priest.

'But Don Paolo, are you not happy?' she asked him.

'Of course I am happy,' he assured the little girl.

'Why, then, aren't you crying?'"

- from The Lady in the Palazzo, by Marlena De Blasi

Reasons

"There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life,

every one of them sufficient."

- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

quote of the day

"We are, every one of us, going to die. Rotting is the way of all things. A tree, a cheese, a heart, a whole human chassis. Now, knowing that, understanding that, living begins to seem less important than living the way you'd like to live...So, life, by definition, is impermanent. All the energy we spend in trying to fix it, secure it, save it, protect it, leaves damn little time for living it. Pain or death or any other pestilence doesn't pass over us because we're careful or because we have insurance or, God forbid, because we have enough money. All right. So how does one come to understand exactly how one wants to live? How one wants to use up his time?"

- from A Thousand Days in Tuscany by Marlena De Blasi

Do It Anyway

I haven't totally lost it. After a few months of not running a step, I had to burn off some energy tonight. I geared up and opened the door to the brisk night air. Aaahh....refreshing. Until my legs got numb. I credit the lack of feeling in my lower extremities with being able to run 3k without stopping. Despite being improperly dressed on the bottom half, I quite enjoyed my run tonight and promptly entered the Saskatchewan Marathon (to run the half) when I got home. (Which I'm going to do with my running partner and sister, right Sher?)
I've had a number of excuses for not running during the past couple of months, most of which had to do with it being too cold and me not having the right winter wear. I finally decided to just go with what I have. This resulted in me wearing my half marathon t-shirt from the past summer, a sweatshirt, a windbreaker-type jacket from the second-hand store, and jeans that are artificially paint-splattered. That's right, I ran in jeans. Loose-fitting, mind you, but jeans nonetheless. If you crack open a running magazine, you will never hear them advocate running in jeans. But it works, if necessary.
With that in mind, I decided that drive and desire will beat fancy gear every time. If you really want to do something, find a way and make it happen. There will always be things that don't fall into place, but the effort is worth it.

"I think once again how much I like this life. It feels purloined in a way, or like a prize. First prize for not waiting. For not waiting to splash in a river, for not promising myself that I would someday splash in a river, but for doing it now, right now, before destiny or some other interloper stops by to tell me there's been a change of plans."
~ from A Thousand Days in Tuscany, by Marlena de Blasi

The Quote's For You

"Whatever it was, I knew it would be all right, or it wouldn't be all right, but it would be part of the same unbroken line we were all walking in, which is, of course, the real lesson...And we danced too wild, and we sang too long, and we hugged too hard, and kissed too sweet...because by now we were all old enough to know that what looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight."

-What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage

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"I believe God is a librarian. I believe that literature is holy...it is that best part of our souls that we break off and give each other, and God has a special dispensation for it, angels to guard its making and its preservation."

- Chasing Shakespeares by Sarah Smith (pg 136)

Hang a Question Mark

Hang a Question Mark

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."
Bertrand Russell
English author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)