dual personalities

Daughter #1 here. It’s my birthday today! I’m old. And I’m going to let someone else devote a blog post to me/my birthday.

This weekend, I drove up to Columbia to hit some estate sales–and I hit the jackpot. An old professor’s house where the books were 50¢ and plentiful. I had to restrain myself because, as it is, I have eight boxes of books and dvds that have no home. I still walked away with a stack.

I figure, I need to get these before they all get rewritten.

I also got this Wedgewood Elizabeth II Coronation commemorative ashtray which I couldn’t resist because it just cracked me up. I just love that it’s an ashtray, so passé.

After perusing my purchases on Sunday evening, with Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on in the background, I was inspired to read Emerson’s Self-Reliance. It’ll cure what ails ya.

“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adoptive talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession.”

“It is easy to live in the world after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

“The secret of fortune is joy in our hands.”

I could really just copy and paste the whole thing here. It was just what I needed for Sunday night. And for this birthday week when, as usual, I have no plans and, not only do I have a busy and stressful day at work, I’m sure they won’t remember it is my birthday. That’s okay–I’ve got plans for the weekend and I can make my own joy.

I do think focusing on joy in the small things is something we can all work on. Life is hard, but it’s a gift, and even though it might not always feel like it, we are extremely lucky to be where we are. And that’s where I am as I head into a new year!