How You Look at Things: Opti- v. Pessi-

Written by Ruby A. Iadeluca

This is not meant to be a depressing post, and the books that I borrowed these quotes from, are not depressing books. The books as wholes are very well written and they are very scintillating stories that kept me involved in the characters' lives from start to finish. And, as I have not read from this series in some time now, I find myself missing these people (characters).

I believe I have borrowed both of these from the same author: Martha Grimes...

"Memory is slippery. I read somewhere that we never completely forget a thing, that there are the imprints of everything we've ever seen or done, all of these tiny details at the bottoms of our minds, like pebbles and weeds that never surface from a river bottom."

"But I suppose the whole natural world forgets; the tall grass I plow through beyond the door does not hold on to the imprint of my shoe; the water she drowned in and the lily pads that bore her up have lost all trace of Mary-Evelyn Devereau. We don't leave anything of us behind, except in others' memories. And if they forget us, we're finally gone at last."

Every once in a while, I latch on to a sentence or two that makes me stop and re-read what I have just read. Then, when I have read those words many times over, I will finally reach for my pencil and paper and write them down, in hopes of never forgetting what they evoke in me at any given point in time.

It's odd how you can find these little gems in the oddest of places: a line in a book, a young tree with bare branches covered in frost, a long lost friend or family member on Facebook who lifts your spirits with their posts. . .

Maybe it's not odd, maybe it's a kind of blessing. I suppose it depends on how you choose to look at things.

Like.... (and this is a stretch for me) it's ten at night and the kids didn't wash up the dishes, but there is fresh-baked banana bread. Does this make me happy? Or does this make me uptight because, not only are the dishes not done, but now there are more to do tomorrow?

I'll leave that question hanging out there for you to ponder. There are some of you who know me very well and they know how I would answer this. But there are others who don't know me as well who will believe the opposite. And still others would shine their own opinion on this and state what they think I should be feeling about this situation.

I will tell you though, that at this point, I am happy. Maybe content is a better word. Content = not discontent. And I'm certainly not discontent. At least not at the moment.

Post a comment. Do you have any favorite quotes from books that you've read? A sentence or a paragraph that just seemed to make you stop in your tracks? A little snippet of something that made you think that it was just waiting for you to find it? I'd love to hear what yours are.