Dreary Days

     Lately at our house we’ve been talking a lot about the weather. In case you don’t know, Elgin does not have the best weather. In fact it can be downright depressing at times. For example, today is overcast, cold, gloomy, and everything outside is brown. It makes waking up hard, and it makes the work day seem longer and longer. And since there’s nothing to look at outside, you’re forced to look at things in your office. This morning I found a hole in my favorite patterned tights right on the knee. It’s a sad, sad, day in Cat’s office.

     So what keeps me going on days like these? All the little things that I would normally pass over that I’m able to appreciate when the weather is dreary. My piggy bank named Cicero on my desk. He’s silver sparkly and awesome thanks to Jeremy, who drew a face and wings so that Cicero can fly mine and Rachel’s coins to a magical bank where hopefully someday it will be enough to pay for the 2 of us to go on a cruise. Then there’s Freddie and Molly, my basil and cilantro plants growing by my window. Freddie (the basil) has taken over the pot. I guess I should call them Molly and the Freddies.

     Then I have a wall of quotes building up my wall next to my computer. Quotes have always been important to me. I treat a new quote the same way a reader treats a new book. You look at it, read it, absorb it, and apply it to yourself and your life. It started with one and now I have a plethora of wisdom and inspiration steadily creeping and growing up my wall. Just for kicks and giggles, I’m going to list them here, prepare your brain and spirit…


“I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, so we’re really not that different, me and you”. -Colin Raye


“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not”. –Dr. Seuss


“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing”.


“Live simply so others may simply live”. – Mother Teresa


“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does”. – William James


“You are the butter to my bread and the breath to my life”. –Julia Child (?)


“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you”. – Dr. Seuss


“Know that you are loved by extending your love into the world”.


“Do not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness”. – James Thurber


“It is not about how the world sees you; it is about how you see the world”.


     That last one has me thinking today. ‘About how you see the world’, instead of seeing the overcast and the cold gloom, it’s important for us to remember the small things. No matter how insignificant they may seem at times, they are the things that keep us going on those no good awful days. Today I’m thankful for Cicero, Molly, and the Freddies for keeping my spirits high, and thankful for the quotes that continue to feed my soul.


Peace,

Cat