Forecast

I am guilty.  I very often spend too much time dwelling in the past.  That is something I strongly dislike about myself.  Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. ~Norman Cousins  Over the past couple of years I have slowly come to an acceptance and settled on a decision. These words help with the explanation.

Would you keep a chive on your tooth just because you enjoyed last night's potato?  

~From the television showBoston Common

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today.  I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great.  If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.  ~Art Buchwald

Someone once said that the past is a good place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.  Wise sentiments.  But as a writer, I'm not willing to let go.  Instead, I've decided to drag the past along with me, using it as an entrepot for my stories.  There is nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.  ~Ernest Hemingway

---

en·tre·pôt   (ŏn'trə-pō') 

French, from entreposer, to store : entre, in, among 
(from Latin inter-; see inter-) + poser, to place 

---

A pleasant piece of the past reemerged last night.  I had the good fortune of visiting with my kindergarten teacher at a local restaurant.  She still has the same smiling eyes.  I am no longer the five year-old with big blue eyes and long brown hair, the little one who even then talked a bit too much.  I've grown up a lot.  She hugged me and told me how proud she is of me.  Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be. ~Karen Ravn  There is something so comforting about a grandmotherly hug to reassure you how very much you matter.  Thank you, Mrs. Jones.  And speaking of grandmotherly, Mrs. P. came to visit the classroom today.  It is Wednesday and we are a part of her regular mid-week routine.  She visits two first grade classrooms each week and reads with the students.  Last week she celebrated her 82nd birthday.  She decorated approximately 5 dozen cupcakes for her first grade friends.  Today in my mailbox, there was a glittery thank-you note which read:  

Dear Mrs. G and First Grade~ 

Thank you for making my birthday so special.  I loved all of your cards!  

See you next week, Mrs. P.

When she appeared today, she was carrying a bucket of these.  Happy Easter to you as well, Mrs. P!  

Easter Bunny
~complete with jelly bean eyes and licorice whiskers~

I hope, I hope, I hope that someday, when I am in the winter of my life, I will remember my students...hug them...tell them I am still proud of them...and I hope I will remember to write thank you notes (glittery ones, of course), and be so inclined to bring happiness to others ~ by sharing a story, a smile, or a treat sweetly decorated by a loving hand.  Whatever you are, be a good one.  ~Abraham Lincoln

Tonight's agenda:

• Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for my dear childhood friends' shops.  I love you Jami Tberry and Shannon.  Congrats on a stunning shop.  Fabulous!
• Youth Gruop at church for Kid 2 and Kid 3.
• Laundry, or maybe not.
• A no-carb dinner.  Seriously, I am getting bored.
• To remember:  Life isn't about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.  ~George Bernard Shaw

As I look ahead, I think I'm in the mood for a masterpiece.  ~S