I'm reading the latest Sandra Dallas book right now, New Mercies. (My grandma gave it to me for Mother's Day.) I'm definitely a fan of her books, and this one doesn't disappoint. While reading in bed last night, this passage jumped out at me:
"Take tarts when tarts are passing," Mr. Sam said.
"What's that?" asked Holland.
"Miss Amalia's mother used to say that. You take you your happiness where it's found, and you got to recognize it when it's passing by. Now, that's not worth denying."
I've been mulling this over, and I like it. To me it implies that there's happiness around us, but if we're not paying attention, we might not necessarily notice it. So we need to be looking for it. If we do, we'll find it. We just have to claim it.
I'm claiming it today. Last night wasn't great, Eva was up a lot coughing and such. She was therefore tired and fussy this morning, and because she was coughing so much I decided to stay home from church with her. I was a little bummed about it and tired myself, plus I have cramps today, so normally I think I would not be in the greatest form. But somehow, I decided to take tarts when tarts are passing, instead. I've watched two movies, I gave Eva a bath, I read her many books, I worked on a little project I started Friday, and I made Eva a photo flip book. She's taking a nap right now and I'm taking it easy. It's actually turned out to be a pretty great day. I think I may be onto something here.
8 comments:
I love it when you share things from the books you're reading, and I love this passage today. When I first read it, I was thinking it was about desserts and not passing them up because of vanity (that's telling isn't it since I never pass up dessert), but I like this idea of recognizing happiness when it comes our way. I'm also glad that you still had happiness to recognize today even though you have cramps and are tired. Watching 2 movies sounds good, reading books to Eva sounds good, and being home all day sounds great.
That is very insightful. I did see hapiness today I took a nap which I haven't done since my BYU days...It felt really good, too bad I was sleep not to enjoy it! jajajjjaaj
Glad you had a relaxing time!
I'm with Jill- I just assumed it meant to enjoy dessert. I'm a little dissapointed it didn't mean that because it would give me liscence, but I suppose the rue meaning of happiness is a better one anyway. Glad you're feeling it :)
I wish I had read all your blogs as they were coming in- did you go through some strange portal to my brain? Seriously- I have been feeling all of these things the past couple of days- I need to laugh more and enjoy life, why do I always get so grumpy, how can I look around and see all the amazing things I have- So.. thank you for your posts. I'm glad you were able to see the good things out of the day, instead of focusing on the bad. LOVE the post.
What a great idea, I need to take more tarts and enjoy them and learn to recognize them.
i am almost done with Diary of Mattie Spenser and may just have to do this one next.
Ilove the quote.
One of our talks in Sacrament Meeting was about being happy, "Man is that he might have joy." I've been thinking about ways to find happiness in my life, even when it's not going how I pictured it should.
I'm glad for another good book recommendation. I just finished "Eat Cake" and loved it! Keep the Good Book List coming!
Oops! That "anonymous" was really me, I just forgot to sign my username.
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