So here are some words from wise people that have helped me on this European adventure.
“I think people would be happier if they admitted things more often. In a sense we are all prisoners of some memory, or fear, or disappointment - we are all defined by something we can’t change.”
― Simon Van Booy, The Illusion of Separateness
― Simon Van Booy, The Illusion of Separateness
To live of love is to sail afar
and bring both peace and joy where'er I be
O pilot blest! love is my guiding star,
in every soul I meet, thyself I see
Safe sail I on, through wind or rain or ice,
Love urges me, love conquers every gale.
High on my mast behold is my device,
"By love I sail."
--St. Therese of Liseaux, Excerpt from "To Live of Love"
Those are the golden sessions; when our slippers are on, our feet spread out toward the blaze and our drinks are at our elbows; when the whole world, and something beyond the world, opens itself to our minds as we talk; and no one has any claim on or any responsibility for another, but all are freemen and equals as if we had first met an hour ago, while at the same time an Affection mellowed by the years enfolds us. Life — natural life — has no better gift to give.
--CS Lewis, The Four Loves
Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
--Robert Frost
Otherwise—Jane Kenyon
I got out of bed on two strong legs. It might have been otherwise. I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood. All morning I did the work I love. At noon I lay down with my mate. It might have been otherwise. We ate dinner together at a table with silver candlesticks. It might have been otherwise. I slept in a bed in a room with paintings on the walls, and planned another day just like this day. But one day, I know, it will be otherwise.
