Creativity
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have. ― Maya Angelou
[Hear her read her valiant poem “Still I Rise” here.]
Creativity is intelligence having fun. ― Albert Einstein
Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
Galatians 6: 4-5 The Message
Giving and Health
Dr. Stephen Post conducted a survey at forty-four major universities that revealed that giving protects your overall health twice as much as an aspirin protects your heart against disease. Why Good Things Happen to Good People (7)
Relief print: C. Joel Beaman
Being Young in Heart
Another belief of mine is that everyone else my age is an adult whereas I am merely in disguise.” ― Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye
June Brides & Marriage
Wedding of Ruth Arlene Longenecker and John Weaver, Bossler’s Mennonite Church, 1950s Bride carries white Bible with lacy handkerchief Groom wears plain (frock) coat
Marriage is more like an airplane than a rock.
You have to commit the thing to flight, and then it creaks and groans, and keeping it airborne depends entirely on altitude attitude. Working at it, though, we can fly forever. ― Michael Grant in the San Diego Union
The Educated Mind & an Opposing Viewpoint
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
― Aristotle, Metaphysics
Life’s Irritations
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. ― Psychiatrist Carl Jung
Memory and Time
Remembering is so basic and vital a part of staying alive that it takes on the strength of an instinct of survival, and acquires the power of art. Remembering is done through the blood, it is a bequeathment, it takes account of what happened before a man is born . . . . It is a physical absorption through the living body, it is a spiritual heritage. It is also a life’s work. ― Eudora Welty in her book On Writing in which she quotes Faulkner (103).
In fiction, time can throb like a pulse, tick like a bomb, beat like the waves of a rising tide again the shore; it can be made as the whisper of attrition, or come to an end with the explosion of a gun (98).
Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today’s events. ― Albert Einstein
I promised an answer to the puzzling question from the last post.
How did this happen? Here is our best guess:
Our children, now in their forties, were in their late teens when Cliff and I decided to leave them at home alone while we took a short weekend trip. One of the children was very mature and responsible (or so we thought), so we felt safe to leave. When we returned home, pictures on the walls were askew, there was evidence of under-age drinking, and one leg on the piano bench had obviously been broken off but bandaged up with rough, brown U-Haul tape. Our kids’ explanation then was that they had a small party but more came, uninvited, when word spread that there were no parents at home. Yes, the cliché fits here exactly: “When the cat’s away . . . !”
At the time of the first break, Cliff repaired the leg with a wooden dowel, which has lasted until a few weeks ago. Then Mr. Repairman had to reinforce the leg with a sturdier steel dowel. The END. (We hope!)
Coming next: Hats Off to Dad
Oh my goodness, Marian–way too much to respond to in this post! Thank you for the link to Maya Angelou\’s reading of her poem. Hearing her read it adds a whole new dimension to the familiar–and wonderful–poem.
I love the wedding photo. They look so young, and I love their expressions. I was a young June bride, as well–many years ago!
And the piano story–oh dear! I\’m glad there wasn\’t any more damage or hurt kids.
Here\’s my quote:
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
–Douglas Adams
😉
Thanks for the laugh, Merril. It\’s good not to be so up-tight about meeting or missing goals. From your list of publications, I can tell you have met many of them. For what it\’s worth, here\’s a quote I read just yesterday: \”A dream is a goal with a deadline\” (maybe even with a little wiggle room).
I think I won\’t apologize for the \”muchness\” in this post. You have risen to the occasion as always.
Thanks for the reply–and the deadline-related comeback.
Oh no, of course do not apologize for your \”muchness\” (love that)–more to ponder. 🙂
Loved the Albert Einstein quote, \”Creativity is intelligence having fun.\” My quote for today is \”It\’s not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.\” Helen Walton
Why do I think everybody had perfect kids but me? Thanks for sharing the partying teen years. Teens will be teens, a public reminder, what goes around comes around.
Honest confession is good for the soul! As you know our kids were/are not perfect and neither are we. But now they are both good parents and great role models.
I wonder if Helen Walton is part of the WalMart family. If so, I wish her descendants would do a little more \”scattering.\” Yes?
Thanks for your reading, commenting and adding to the Quote Store today, Carolyn.
Yes, she is part of the Walmart family.
A lovely post thanks Marian! All the quotes are so wise. Maya Angelou\’s one about creativity reminds me of mother\’s milk, it never dries up and the more the babe feeds, the more milk is produced.
I hope the piano stays upright now ..
The mother\’s milk analogy fits perfectly for Maya and for all other creative souls, like you for example.
Thanks for the piano bench wish – staying upright, it occurs to me, is a good life metaphor too. One idea sparks another. You\’re good at idea \”sparks,\” Susan.
I was a June bride \”For they say when you marry in June, You will always be a bride.\” -From Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. 🙂
Happy anniversary, Jenn! Yes, \”June bride\” is practically a cliche, but I read some research that mentioned August is the most popular month for brides now. Thanks for the timely quote.
Love this movie! I watch it often. I was a June bride as was my oldest girl.
🙂
A lovely post — I especially love the wedding photograph you shared.
My quote to add is: \”Marriage is hard. A good marriage is really hard.\” But let me share the full context — taken straight from the pages of my manuscript:
Marriage and motherhood are the best teachers, yet steepest leaning cliffs, that I’ve ever climbed. I married a sailor named Len. Actually, we eloped. After the initial shock wore off—that of our parent’s—we got down to the interesting lessons that a marriage relationship can teach. The first two that come to mind are:
What do you mean SHARE?
What do you mean MY way’s not the only way?
Marriage is hard. A good marriage is really hard.
Three years into wedded bliss and along comes our son, Evan.
Did I mention that marriage is hard? Parenting is harder. Much harder.
I can remember when we shared the news with my parents. My mom said. “Motherhood is the best and worst thing that will ever happen to you.”
I said, “Mom, that’s completely contradictory. How can that possibly be?”
With a wicked gleam in her eye and a knowing smile, she said, “Just you wait and see.”
Husband Cliff says I am always right and I believe him! (Insert eye roll here!)
Your reflections on marriage and motherhood are spot on. I wonder if Jung may be referring to marriage when he says, \”Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.\” I\’m not sure to what extent this quote could or should be applied to parenting though.
The anecdotes are entertaining and instructive, just like you. Thanks, Laurie.
The wedding picture looks so much like my mother and father, 1956, though she wore glasses. They were the same ages as us when they married. Funny though is that my father was 5 years older than my mother and I am (shhh) 5 years older than my husband.
Also, the same church, and same for my daughter, too.
It\’s good to be older than your husband, statistics on mortality being what they are in favor or women. In fact, I\’m a teeny weeny bit older than my husband, by about 1 1/2 years. It\’s always interesting to compare wedding customs in different eras. Thanks for stopping by, Athanasia.
Love the quotes on creativity and Maya Angelou\’s poem, \”Still I Rise.\” Very inspiring.
I was wrong on the mystery quiz. Glad Cliff was able to fix it.
Here\’s a quote by Paulo Coelho that I love: \”You must be the person you have never had the courage to be. Gradually, you will discover that you are that person, but until you can see this clearly, you must pretend and invent.\”
Thanks for all your wisdom, Judy. \”You must pretend and invent\” is a phrase that stands out for me in your comment. Case in point: I had such a hard time learning \”computer\” language back in the 1990s, i.e, getting the hang of email and MicroSoft WORD. I would take classes but still struggled. Finally, I decided I would go down blind alleys pretending I knew what I was doing. At last, something clicked.
It reminds me of another quote: Fake it till you make it.
Paulo Coelho is one of my favorite authors as well. The Alchemist, very quotable.
I love \”The Alchemist.\” And, I do subscribe – at times – to: Fake it till you make it. 😉
So much to respond to here! Since I have brides on my mind, let me also say that the wedding picture you post here seems unusual in that it\’s in COLOR. All my photos from that era are in b & w. Was it the late \’50\’s?
Which brings me to a quote/story.
What are the three most important words to use in relation to your spouse?
\”You\’re probably right.\”
Passed along as a bit of wisdom from a golf pro to his caddy.
Thanks for stopping by as you take a wee break from your travels, reading, speaking, and blogging.
The bride & groom photo comes from the online postings of the Bossler Mennonite Church Bicentennial Celebration of 2011. I have no way of knowing whether the original was altered without investigating further. My best guess too is that it was the late 1950s.
If you read my response to Laurie\’s comment above, you know the 4-word answer to marital friction, uttered without sarcasm of course.
I look forward to hearing about your Anniversary Tour – a – Palooza (if that\’s the right term) very soon. What a ride you are having this summer!
Lovely tribute to Maya Angelou and what a charming shot of the wedding couple.
Yes, there\’s a lot to see, read, and even hear on this Wednesday\’s post. How different my archival portraits look from your fresh images from nature. I guess you would say we are complementary.
I appreciate the quote about an educated mind. I was often saddened to live in a country where people were prohibited to speak or to ask questions about another faith or religion. If your own faith cannot withstand a few question marks, then you should doubt its authenticity.
Great insight, Traci. This reminds me of a closely aligned quote, \”The unexamined life is not worth living,\” which Socrates I believe said at his trial for heresy.
Part II – I nominated you for a Writing Tour. If it\’s not something you wish to do, no problem!
I\’m honored by your nomination, Traci. I guess I would have to find out more about this–the details. I believe I\’ve seen this in progress on other blogs I follow.
Great quotes about many things. I loved the ones about creativity and marriage, especially \”Marriage is more like an airplane than a rock.\” Yup.
I knew things had gotten out of hand with the teenagers when we were away when there were footprints on the wall.
Thanks, Marian–and now I\’m off to read the piano story.
Footprints on the wall – now there\’s a story I would definitely read!
I love that we can follow each other\’s blogs, Elaine. Thanks for keeping track of my antics on this blog.