Bits and pieces

Some favorites from the week:

This hand lotion, which has changed my life (or at least made my horribly dry hands more comfortable.) It's not perfect - it's pricey and the scent is a little strong - but after many winters of searching, I've finally found something that's not greasy and really works. (And I don't have a humidifier, but if I were to buy one, it would be this little one.)

This quote, which I try to keep in mind whenever I listen to the news.

This lesson from a 10-year-old. Livvy stayed after school to help make Valentine bags for a group of homeless children. When she got home, I asked how it was. "Guess where they live?" she said. I couldn't guess. "At the hotel where there was a fire!" (Once, when we drove to a store in a nearby town, the parking lot of an adjoining motel was filled with fire trucks.) "The children live in the motel?" I asked, with what must have sounded like concern in my voice. "But, Mom, they're lucky," she said. "They've got someplace good to stay."

Have a happy weekend.

Remembering

"It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength." ~ Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

(Photo by John Chillingworth on BBC.com)

New year

"For what it's worth ... it's never too late ... to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you're not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again." ~ Eric Roth, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Wishing you the happiest 2014, filled with startling sights and people with different points of view.

(Photo from lebenslustiger.com)

Mandela

When I picked up Holt, my 11-year-old, from a sports practice last night, he asked if I had heard that Nelson Mandela died. He said he had listened in on a conversation some older boys, who were working out nearby, were having about the South African leader. Later, when I walked into the family room, I found him sitting quietly, watching a tribute to Mandela on television. So, in honor of a man who changed the world and a boy who seems to recognize that, a quote for Friday:

"People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." - Nelson Mandela

I hope you have a very happy weekend.

Beautiful world

A quote for Friday (so late that you may not see it until Saturday).

'The world did not have be beautiful to work. But it is.
What does that mean?' - Mary Oliver

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

(Photograph by Emily Anderson for Rue Magazine.)

Kindness, again and again

I thought once I became an adult, I wouldn't need this reminder so often, but I find I do, almost every day. So a quote for Friday. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

"Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see." - Mark Twain

(Photo by Vitaliano Bassetti, Italy 1954)

White church, orange leaves

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." ~ Anne of Green Gables

Have a wonderful (long!) weekend.

(Photo: bluepueblo.tumblr.com)

Be brave

I went walking with a friend tonight, and she told me about two brave things her children had done recently that hadn't turned out the way they hoped. It's so hard to understand when you're 14 or 11, but it's the bravery that matters, not the outcome. I've been thinking about bravery this week - about not letting fear get in the way - since coming across these two quotes I love.

"What would you do if you weren't afraid?"- Spencer Johnson

"Be you, bravely"- author unknown

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Words

Several people I follow on Pinterest collect quotes, as I do. They've named their boards such things as "Words to Live By," "Wise Words," and even "Wordy Candy." I have a board of quotes, the name of which is "Quotes." I could do better. But the important thing, I suppose, is coming across words that are thought-provoking and a good reminder of something. Words to live by.

The end of the week seems like a good time to share some of these thoughts, and I'll start by sharing two.

"Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big. Because to them, all of it has always been big stuff." - Catherine M. Wallace

"The words of the tongue should have three gatekeepers: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?" - Arabian proverb

I hope you have a happy weekend.

(Photo by Raceytay.etsy.com)