1. “Begin each day as if it were on purpose.” – Mary Anne Radmacher

2. “Dwell in possibility.” – Emily Dickinson

3. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

4. “Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the
senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends.
They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.” – Helen Keller

5. “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” – Twyla Tharp

6. “Sure God created man before woman, but you always make a rough draft before creating the final masterpiece.” – Anonymous

7. “I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time and prevents arguments.” – Oscar Wilde

8. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. – Les Brown

9. “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” – Winston Churchill

10. “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. – Winston Churchill

11. “I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking
them.” – Jane Austen

12. “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun
and – SNAP – the job’s a game.” – Mary Poppins

13. “I always knew I was destined for greatness.” – Oprah Winfrey

I spent almost the whole day without internet access or email–I felt so antcy, so unconnected–so when it was finally back, I was in reading my emails when my son called me from the kitchen…
Our moth broke out of the cocoon!

He wasn’t at all graceful, just hairy and sloppy, stumbling around. We didn’t know if we should let him go, wait a little bit… I asked my husband if we should put a couple more leaves in with him, and his answer was that he didn’t know if moths ate leaves. And I didn’t want to try to catch some bugs for him. So anyway, my forward-thinking and practical husband didn’t want him released near our house, thinking that he/she? would only mate and leave more baby caterpillars to devour our trees, so on his way to play raquetball tonight, he took the little guy to release him into ‘the wild’… L.O. wanted to keep him for a pet.

Also including a picture of my two trick-or-treaters, complete with homemade gun. Unbelievably, they ran into a toddler girl dressed as the Star Wars Princess Leia, huge buns and all.

And I got to the end! My first draft is done!!

I’ve recently wondered how people seem to instinctively know that I’m not a hugger. That is to say, I don’t initiate hugs as a general rule–with much of anybody but my immediate family. Except after long absences. And even then there is some uncertainty… But I’m not, by any means, against hugging. I’m happy to accept them from genuine huggers, and you can bet I hug back–even in the awkward situations. But I have friends who hug virtually everyone hello, but they don’t hug me…and it has me wondering why.

Do I put off some sort of vibe? Am I not as sentimental as maybe I should be? I was the only one among my best junior high school chums (about eight of us) who didn’t cry on the last day of junior high. It just didn’t seem warranted, given the fact that we were all going to the same high school… So I just stood there, feeling awkward. Maybe it’s just that I’ve always been a little more comfortable with guys than with girls. But I don’t hug the guys either… Hmmm…

I digress…if anyone has any ideas, I’d be thrilled to hear about them. My family was not a group of huggers. We were all too busy making fun of each other (in a generally good-natured way). I think I’d have been laughed out of the room and made the butt of a good many jokes if I’d tried to hug my brother or sister. So I do have a history (and maybe some emotional scarring).

Maybe I should just freak everybody out and start hugging everyone hello… Imagine that!