Grabbin' That Purple Hat

 

A Woman's Lifeline

Age 3: She looks at herself and sees a queen.

Age 8: She looks at herself and sees Cinderella.

Age 15: She looks at herself and sees an ugly duckling (Mom, I can't go to school looking like this today!)

Age 20: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" but decides she's going out anyway.

Age 30: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" but decides she doesn't have time to fix it so she's going out anyway.

Age 40: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" but says "At least I am clean," and goes out anyway.

Age 50: She looks at herslef and says, "I am what I am" and goes wherever she wants to go.

Age 60: She looks at herself and reminds herself of all the people who can't even see themselves in the mirror. Goes out and conquers the world.

Age 70: She looks at herself and sees wisdom, laughter, and ability and goes out and enjoys life.

Age 80: Doesn't bother to look.  Just puts on a purple hat and goes out to have fun with the world.

The moral is, maybe we should all grab that purple hat a little earlier! 

(Ye Shall Bear Record of Me, "Here Am I, Send Me")

~Persuasion~

Well it's official. I just finished my first Jane Austen novel, Persuasion... and I LOVED it!

A portrait of Jane Austen

Persuasion

Anne Elliott and Fredrick Wentworth were once lovers 8 1/2 years ago.  Anne was young and persuaded by those around her that they should not marry due to his lack of fortune.  Of course, 8 1/2 years later, Fredrick comes back into her life as Captain Wentworth and with a handsome fortune... but are those feelings still there? Could he ever forgive her for letting the persuasion of others separate them?

SPOILER ALERT: This is the best part of the book. Captain Wentworth writes Anne a letter declaring his feelings... ah it's so good!

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach.  You pierce my soul.  I am half agony, half hope.  Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever.  I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own that when you almost broke it, eight yeas and a half ago.  Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.  Unjust I may have been, weak, and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.  You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan.  Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others.  Too good, too excellent creature! You do justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men.  Believe it to be most fervent and most undeviating in F.W. (Fredrick Wentworth)

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible.  A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."

I'm personally a sucker for love letters.  There is nothing better than being able to read and re-read the feelings of someone who loves you. There are things that come out on paper that sometimes aren't spoken through mouth. It's so much more sentimental that someone took the time to WRITE to write their feelings down.

 

"Who can be in doubt of what followed? When any two young people take it into their heads to marry, they are pretty sure by perseverance to carry their point, be they ever so poor, or ever so imprudent, or ever so little likely to be necessary to each others ultimate comfort."

True love is out there people, and I'm just so happy I found it. And if you haven't read Jane Austen yet, go pick up one of her books (along with a dictionary because she sure uses some fancy words!)

Land of the Free

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th , not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."  

~Erma Bombeck

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.  ~Albert Camus

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." ~Albert Einstein

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."~ H.S. Truman

America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world. ~ Dinesh D'Souza

Let freedom ring! ~ Unknown

God bless America.
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her,
Through the night with the light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the ocean, white with foam.
God bless America! My home, sweet home,
God bless America! My home, sweet home.

Author: Irving Berlin

Waterslide + Weight = Whiplash

Our apartment is on the third (top) floor of our apartment building and it's just TOO hot to handle! Thankfully we have purchased a Pass of all Passes so this weekend we decided it would be the perfect day to beat the heat by taking a little trip down to Seven Peaks in Salt Lake.

Without realizing it, this was a first for Dan and I in our relationship (side-note: I love those moments of "firsts" you get to experience with your spouse). We had never ridden on a water slide together!  So Dan and I, along with Dan's youngest sister Laura got ourselves a three-man tube to ride the water slides with.

The very first slide we went on was called "Downpour"... little did I know this slide was going to temporarily rain on my parade.

 Laura sat in the front, I was in the middle, Dan in the back. When the lifeguard gave us the okay to go, Dan jumped on the back of the tube to give us a solid start down the slide.

However, this plan wasn't so great.  We came to the first turn in the slide pretty quickly and Dan was still getting himself situated on the tube. Due to Dan still flopping around on the back of the tube, we flipped, and flipped fast and hard!  My head hit the side of the waterslide, and then my neck was crushed by the weight of the tube flipping on top of it. OUCH.

We were determined to make to down the slide on the tube, so the three of us got back on the tube and pushed off.   Things went much better down the slide until we got to the bottom.

You know how at the bottom of each water slide there is a splash pool to land in? Well I don't think anyone ever calculated how much longer it takes three people to stop at the bottom of this slide.  It was at least 30 feet long, but when we came whizzing out, we cleared the ENTIRE pool going full speed ahead! We weren't decreasing in speed at all when we slammed in the cement sidewalk in front of the pool! The lifeguard was quite taken back by the whole scene, and the guy that Laura ran into on the sidewalk as she flew out of the tube was pretty alarmed as well.

Three lessons learned from this:

#1- Read those annoying signs at the front of each slide. They say important things like "the heaviest person should always ride in the front of the tube"... who knew?

#2- After severe whiplash from a tube with your husband landing on your head, and then slamming into the side of the cement sidewalk, take 4 Ibuprofen and give yourself an hour of rest... you will be able to ride again and finish the day strong. (However 4 Ibuprofen will need to be taken three times a day for at least three days after)

#3- When riding with your husband on a water slide for the first time, calculate the effects of his weight and yours so you can be a little more prepared! Speed, stopping time, and injuries are increased.