"If you live to be hundred, I want to be hundred minus one day...so I never have to live without you."--Winnie the Pooh

You know you have someone in your life you feel this way about. Think of that person. Now go share this quote with them.

"Dr. Haggen was right when she said memories can either push us forward or hold us back. I carry the memory of Hannah like a soldier carries his rifle into war, a war most people don't even know exists, a war that may someday engulf us all."--from a show on the Syfy channel, and of course the name completely escapes me now

I love the simile, though, the equation of memories being attached to people like weapons are attached to men in war. Weapons are dangerous, as everyone knows, but memories can be, too. And when you feel them, slamming into you with each breath you take, they can knock you down until there's barely anything left of you. It's interesting the way things get into people's heads, and stay there, particularly when you want these memories to just drift away, like soldiers can when they come home from war.

"They used to be called slutty shoes, but now they're accepted."--from a woman in a mall, watching her daughter try on heels

Talk about a funny moment. This woman was completely serious, and boy was she eyeballing her daughter as she walked, rather comfortably, in those high heels.

"You're the perfect ending to my day." --from a man, flirting, I believe, with my mother

This sounds like it could have come from a movie, or a Nicholas Sparks' book.

"The thing that struck me most was … (what happens) when people have what they perceive their purpose to be taken away from them, because we’re all so wrapped up in our public persona. 'Hi, my name’s John. I’m a musician. Hi, my name’s Steve. I’m a pipe fitter. My name’s Bob. I’m an IT guy.' When those things are taken away, what a lot of people seem to feel, as I have in the past, is am I losing my purpose? What am I going to do with myself? … But there’s always that hope in the songs that the real important things come back to us — family and home and, not material possessions, but actual human connections, which is something I think we’re really lacking in society now." - from Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls


There's a lot of truth in this, no matter what artistic path you're on. As writers, we're constantly trying to make sense of things and share those findings with the world. Sometimes it's in hopes of reconnecting people, and sometimes, usually when a small miracle is erupting, it's to locate something within yourself that you've been struggling to find for too long. It's those moments of inspiration and artistic beauty that keeps you going in this world - it's not always a kind place but it is where we are. So, if music and writing and photography and anything else saves a person, then I say go for it. Reach out and hold onto those things that you lost, and pray they come back to you again should you lose your way.

"Life's not the breaths you take, the breathing in and out, that gets you through the day, ain't what it's all about. You might just miss the point if you don't slow down the pace. Life's not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away."--from none other than George Strait

Cupcakes were the last thing that took my breath away - huge, delectable, gorgeously decorated, make-you-wanna-slap-somebody-and-not-feel-bad-about-it cupcakes. They came from a store called Gigi's in Kentucky.

"It won't get any better. Even when he gets older, he'll still embarrass you." --from a patron in a restaurant

A boy about six years old was sitting at a table with two adults, a man and lady, and a young girl about nine. The boy tumbled backwards out of his chair and onto the floor, doing dramatic gestures. Imagine a boy in a plastic, bubble ball, rolling along the floor in a childish haze and you'll know this kid. The lady looked directly at the young girl with a deadpan look on her face, as the boy was being, well, a boy, and said the above quote with no inflection in her voice. And there the boy was, tumbling along, until he found his good sense and sat back in the chair.