Hector: Pass the parcel. That’s sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it and pass it on. Not for me, not for you, but for someone, somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys. That’s the game I want you to learn. Pass it on.
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“The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.”
― Henry Ward Beecher
I extracted happiness from these common things this week…
{Ahhh, the smell of rain & blossoms on a run}
{Cheering on the Wolves for the last time this season}
{Can’t put this book down…a lot like “Hunger Games”}
{Getting lots of sweet canine hugs}
{Bonfire season is upon us…}
…What made you happy this week?
Have a lovely weekend!!
{Images by Me}
Do you still write letters…snail mail is certainly not as popular in a world of texts, email, Facebook, and all the other forms of technology. But coming home to a hand-written letter or card in the mail fills me with such joy & happiness. I try my best to send out my own letters as often as I can in the hope of spreading a little joy to my friends & family.
Maybe that’s why I’m quite taken with the site Letters of Note and especially with this particular letter…
In November of 1958, John Steinbeck — the renowned author of, most notably, The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men — received a letter from his eldest son, Thom, who was attending boarding school. In it, the teenager spoke of Susan, a young girl with whom he believed he had fallen in love.
Steinbeck replied the same day. His beautiful letter of advice can be enjoyed below.
(Source: Steinbeck: A Life in Letters; Image: Thom and John Steinbeck with their father in 1954, courtesy of UC Berkeley.)
New York
November 10, 1958Dear Thom:
We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.
First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.
Second—There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you—of kindness and consideration and respect—not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.
You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply—of course it isn’t puppy love.
But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it—and that I can tell you.
Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.
The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.
If you love someone—there is no possible harm in saying so—only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.
Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.
It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.
Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.
We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.
And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.
Love,
Fa
I’m so struck by this letter…not only for Steinbeck’s honest thoughts & wisdom, but more so for his obvious, unconditional love for his own son. Such a sweet testimony of parental love! The act of writing the letter the day he received the note from his son is proof of love in action as well as words.
{Click images for their source, letter via here}
I find these words from Bob Marley reassuring as I start to dip my toes back into the world of dating once again…
…I haven’t always had the best examples of relationships & love set out in front of me, which tends to make me a bit leary in the dating department. But I’m hopeful one day that will change & I will be strong enough to “love hard when there is love to be had.”
Have you received a piece of advice about dating, love, relationships, etc that has resonated with you? Do you have your own wisdom to share? I sure would be eager to hear…
In the meantime here is another bit of insight I’ve found enlightening:
“you learn how to love, by loving yourself. because some days it comes easily, and some days its much harder than it should be. you learn that love is patience. and overwhelming kindness. that love is acceptance and forgiveness and the strength to try again tomorrow. and if you can’t love yourself in that way that is whole and broken and completely exhausting, then you have no hope at ever loving another living soul.”
~Sharlyn Emily, via here
…Hope that on this Thursday I can begin to learn to love myself in a way that is whole and broken and completely exhausting!
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“So many people enter and leave your life!
Hundreds of thousands of people!
You have to keep the door open so they can come in!
But it also means you have to let them go!”
—Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
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Some thoughts on the many people who touch your lives ~
and a reminder of those people we have yet to meet…
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Mr. Crummles: In every life, no matter how full or empty one’s purse, there is tragedy. It is the one promise life always fulfills. Thus, happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it but to delight in it when it comes. And to add to other people’s store of it. What happens if too early we lose a parent, that party on whom we rely for only everything? What did these people [indicating Nicholas, Kate and Madeline Bray] do when their families shrank? They cried their tears but then they did the vital thing. They built a new family, person by person. They came to see that family need not be defined merely as though with whom we share blood, but as those for whom we would give our blood.
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“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
― Vincent van Gogh
Here are some of the small things making my week great…
{Seeing Fun. perform live…amazing show}
{Hanging out with a new guy who makes me laugh}
{Receiving flowers…delivered by the sweetest 5-year-old I know}
{Playing poker with friends & cold beers}
{Practicing for an upcoming reunion choir concert}
…What made you happy this week?
Have a lovely weekend!!
{Images by Me}
Eagle Poem
by Joy Harjo
To pray you open your whole selfTo sky, to earth, to sun, to moonTo one whole voice that is you.And know there is moreThat you can’t see, can’t hear;Can’t know except in momentsSteadly growing, and in languagesThat aren’t always sound but otherCircles of motion.Like eagle that Sunday morningOver Salt River. Circled in blue skyIn wind, swept our hearts cleanWith sacred wings.We see you, see ourselves and knowThat we must take the utmost careAnd kindness in all things.Breathe in, knowing we are made ofAll this, and breathe, knowingWe are truly blessed because weWere born, and die soon within aTrue circle of motion,Like eagle rounding out the morningInside us.We pray that it will be doneIn beauty.In beauty.
“…Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this”
How amazing is it to think that we are indeed a part of this big, amazing, beautiful world?
Hope reading this poem helps to round out your Thursday…in beauty! Enjoy the day!
“Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are.”—Markus Zusak, I am the Messenger
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