Pearls of Wisdom

I have inspirational and/or funny quotes everywhere-on my fridge, on my computer, on post-its stuck to my desk, in notebooks and sometimes scribbled onto tiny bits of paper and shoved in random places. Why I do this is simple...when life takes me down rapids or over a massive waterfall, I grasp at these quotes like a hand-hold on a lifeline to steady my course until the waters smooth over into something more manageable! Aunt Mattie's generation (she was born in 1909) simply called them pearls of wisdom and as a child, I remember her sharing many of those pearls with me.

On the night before my mother's funeral in 1997, I was staying with her in the home where I grew up. I got up in the middle of the night because I couldn't sleep, and quietly crept down the stairs. I walked by her bedroom, the door was ajar, and she whispered to me in the dark, "Come lay with me awhile." I crawled into bed with her and snuggled against her frail body, my mind full of troubles and my heart broken. She patted my hip the way she would when I was small and said, "Honey, I have seen war, lived through poverty during the Depression, and buried so many of the people I loved in my lifetime. You know how I get through all of that without letting it break me?" she asked. "No," I replied. "I don't even know how I will ever feel happy again," I confessed on a sob. "You will," she assured me. "You will because no matter how painful or bleak something feels, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel This, too, shall pass," she said. And it did. I still miss my mother and all the others I have loved in my life who have passed on in one way or another but that blinding, choking pain...with time, it passes. My crazy quote collection keeps Aunt Mattie close, as well as reminding me of all the things I need to remember, especially in difficult times, such as:

"A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all her might that which she desires." --Paulo Coelho

"The conversation between your fingers and someone else's skin is the most important discussion you can ever have." --Anonymous

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." --Steve Jobs

*Image from picswallpaper.com.

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