It's a Wonderful Life...

George Bailey: You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter. In the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider....

George Bailey: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey! That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.

Mary: I'll take it. Then what?

George Bailey: Well, then you can swallow it, and it'll all dissolve, see....and the moonbeams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair....

Another peek into my "Journey Book"...

I'm not feeling very well today, but I did so much want to keep up with my new blog, so I decided to post another old page from my "Journey" book. I hope you all don't mind...

* * * * * * * * * * *

I write because I love to write, but also because of a need way down deep inside that I must write. A need to put down on paper the emotions that I'm feeling. To have an outlet for all of the words and thoughts that are tumbling all around inside of my head.

~ January 11, 2006

Cary Grant...

"Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant."

Puppy Love...

We have a sweet, new puppy in our house!

Her name is "Holly" and she belongs to my ten year old sister Elizabeth. Besides the fact that she eats and drinks like a horse...she has short, gray fur and the bluest eyes you've ever seen (think Paul Newman)! We've all fallen head over heels in love with her, even my Mom, who hasn't always loved our doggies as much as the rest of us have. She'll allow Holly to lay on the couch (which none of our other dogs had been allowed to do) and we notice she'll pull her a little closer and cuddle her when she thinks we aren't looking.

If it weren't for the one thing, she would definitely be one of the best dogs we've ever had. But this one thing, is a very troublesome thing...

She's like a living vacuum that you can't ever turn off. She will eat or try to eat anything and everything that she can find. I'm not kidding! This isn't like a normal puppy "chewing" or "tasting" everything in your home, this dog really and truly will eat anything that can fit in her mouth. You can see in her eyes that she really doesn't care whether she dies a horrible death of suffocation from the large sock that she's trying to scarf down. She's learned that if we find her with something in her mouth, we'll (obviously) take it away from her and she's *discovered* the wonderful game of "you caa-ant catch me!"

You would think that three girls would be able to catch one small dog, in a very small living room, but...think again. She races in circles around the living room couch, ears flopping, eyes filled with glee, clearly having the time of her life, as we three girls run after her like mad women, dashing here and diving after her there, trying to catch her before she can swallow something else. I have never seen another dog that can run and dodge as fast as she can.

I don't even know where in the world she finds half of the stuff she tries to eat. We've been very careful since learning of her insatiable appetite for inedible things, to pick up anything she might try to eat, (which is just about everything 'cept the kitchen sink) but still she somehow finds them. You'd be amazed at the things that are probably lurking about your house unbeknownst to you. She's already eaten several pairs of socks, a kitchen towel, mittens, and many, many, other items that we weren't able to identify before she swallowed them. All of this, with us being extra careful!

*sigh* we're hoping she outgrows this stage soon...

I couldn't have said it any better...

"Pick the day. Enjoy it -- to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come... The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future."

~Audrey Hepburn

Snapshot...

I plan on posting pictures and quotes from all of the movies that I love, but I had to start with this one because it is my very favorite film. I've never watched another movie that touched me as much. It encompasses so many different types of people, and so many different emotions, and is the most "real" and beautiful "love story" I have ever seen.



Terry:
You know, I seen you a lot of times before. Remember parochial school out on Paluski Street? Seven, eight years ago? Your hair, you had your hair, uh...

Edie: Braids.

Terry:
Looked like a hunk of rope. And you had wires on your teeth and glasses and everything. You was really a mess.

A "Jonah" Day...

Nothing seems to be going quite right today. There isn't exactly any one thing that is wrong, but a lot of little things that added up seem to make up something quite big. I wish that I wasn't feeling this way. But...I am.

I suppose we all have "Jonah" days. When everything we touch seems to break, or crack beneath our fingertips; when everything we say doesn't come out quite the way we meant it to; when the dinner burns, you oversleep, the car breaks down, you say something terribly awful to someone you love, and you accidentally leave your new book outside in the rain. You know how it is... Sometimes it seems like nothing nice will ever happen again. That the day will go on forever and that you will never forget all of the mistakes that you have made.

I'm so thankful that I can wake up each morning and start a new day, completely different than the one before. I'm so thankful to remember that nice things will happen again, that even though things may be really tough right now, there's always promise for tomorrow. I'm even thankful that I have a Jonah day every once in a while. It keeps me remembering to be glad for all of the good days sandwiched in between.

My life is hard right now . And I probably have some very good reasons to be blue, but I want to be able to push past all of that and be able to remember who I am and what I stand for. It's silly to be grumbling when there are so many people who are less fortunate. I want to remember to concentrate on how very blessed I really am.

And in my experience, that's one of the fastest ways to feel better.

Imagination...

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

~Albert Einstein

A page from my "journey book"...

Today was an ordinary day.

There were dirty dishes that needed to be washed, floors that needed to be swept, food that I needed to make, and yet, it was still beautiful. Inside, my heart was singing, so it was easy to look past all of the mundane chores that needed completed. By the time I got a chance to sit down and think back over the day, and write....I was too tired. But I happened to stumble across this entry today that I had written some years ago in my "journey book". It seemed to perfectly say all that I have held in my heart today.

******

Each day is so full of memories. Moments that I wish that I could gather and hold in my hands to treasure for always. So many times they are moments simple, and homey, but with profound depth and meaning just the same. Darling Elizabeth's laugh bubbling over, Mama out on the couch not with me, but there just the same, Sarah, sweet Sarah, head thrown back, laughing for all the world to see, and Daddy his hand outstretched for mine, as if all of the hard, laborious, work that had gone into making his hands so rough, and cut, and sore, had all been proof of his love for me.

I wish that memories were photographs, to be kept, and treasured, and lingered over, so that I could remember every moment again and again. My memories are accumulated every day and become worn and dog-eared from use until new memories come to take their place so sweet and promising.

~June 1, 2006

The Journey Begins...

It does seem a funny thing to post the private thoughts of my soul here, where anyone can read and critique as they wish, but for one reason or another, I had a desire to send out my small shout into this great, big world; to let someone, somewhere, know that I'm here, that I'm still me.

I may not write about anything earth-shaking or revolutionary, I may not write about anything that is even remotely interesting to anyone else, but I do know that if I don't stop amidst the helter-skelter of my life and take the time to scribble down anything and everything that has meant something to me, someday I'll be sorry. Time flys by so quickly, and before I know it, things that were so beautiful and right one day, are forgotten amongst the busyness of the next.

Someday I'll realize that my life, no matter how small, has meant something. That the things that I felt, and thought, and experienced, weren't small, insignificant things to be forgotten, but all took a part in the making of...well, me...and they thereby have a right to be remembered.

So...here's where I begin. The road may get a bit bumpy, but it seems like all of the interesting ones are.