Stories

teach us how to love

and swallow sadness,

find light in darkness,

 turn away from despair.

Crafting and grafting us

into a plot much bigger,

much smaller

than our own.

They remake us

like their protagonists,

from coward to courageous.

Each story that passes

through our hands,

through our minds,

is a gift

wrapped up inside words.

 "Hello, old friend

and here we are,

you and me

on the last page."

Where they end

our hearts break or smile,

crying from tragedy or delight.

But then, our next page.

While their story ends,

our journey is only mid-way,

another chapter,

a new gift.

Top:  Nurse, Young Man, Kiss-a-gram

Below:  Old Man, Journalist, Hero

"We are all stories in the end..."
- The Doctor

"The end of a matter is better than it's beginning."

- Ecclesiastes 7.8

“If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?"

- GK Chesterton

"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."
- Samwise Gamgee

  

“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”  

- Madeleine L'Engle

"You were my new dream."

- Flynn Rider

"There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die...that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living."

- The Count

[HitRECord]

"Though truth is heavier than fiction,

Gravity lifts as the projectionist rolls tape.
And it makes us brave again"

- Sleeping at Last

Of Tangled and Typology :)

This weekend I had one of those great "Wow!  Not everyone thinks everyone thinks the same way I do (thank God!)" moments. 

I was at my sister's watching Tangled with my neice and nephew. We were watching the scene at the end [er...Spoilers?] and I exclaimed how much I love this film.  My sister asked why.  I rambled off a few things quickly:

- Mother Gothel's mirror breaks - a symbol of the shattering of the power of vanity [very much a Mirror Mirror relationship going on here... interesting since Snow White was Disney's 1st feature film and Tangled was it's 50th :]

- Flynn chooses to save Rapunzel rather than himself - amazing!

- The shards from that mirror would prove the very weapon Flynn would need to free Rapunzel and defeat Mother Gothel.

- There's a brief, but powerful shot of the rapidly aging Mother Gothel looking in the broken mirror - representing her fractured psyche [unfotunately, I couldn't find a picture of that shot]

- Pascal uses Rapunzel's hair (of all things) to trip Mother Gothel and she falls out the window to her death.

- Then of course we get the touching death of Flynn Rider - and even though you know Disney is going to bring him back to life, giving Rapunzel a haircut and killing off the "prince charming" in the same scene automatically qualifies it for "Most Unpredictable Disney Clip" - if not entire movie!

- And in one final, gorgeous shot before the resurrection a la Beauty and the Beast... we get this: the shattered mirror and shattered dreams - the (seeming) finality of death - bathed in rays of light.  And the Sun has not lost it's healing power after all.

So anyway... I rambled off most of those thoughts about the power of imagery very quickly, until my sister said, "Stop it, you're hurting my brain!"  After laughter and a "Wait - really?" - I had that wonderful shock to the system that, yes, I am odd.  And maybe people who are not constantly reading into things have a less stressful life.  Maybe they actually get more out of it!!

But its actually come at a wonderful time.  I've been learning so much about people lately - about our differences. We took the Meyers Briggs / Jungian Typology test at work [seriously, take it if you haven't and then visit the personality pages to get a scarily accurate description of your Type].  There are 16 different types of personalities according that test.  I'm also reading the 5 love languages.  I've had some really eye-opening experiences with family members and friends and co-workers. 

And I'm becoming aware again of the variety that exists in the human race - and that ALL of it is a reflection of who God is.

Some of you may just get this easier than I do.  But I've seriously been amazed listening to people who think in an entirely different way - not just from a different point of view, but an entirely other grid. Yet that grid is as much in the image of God as any other - even when they seem contrary.  And when I say "grid," I'm not talking about worldview as much as I'm talking about the personality and perspective each of us was born with.  Obviously each personality has its strengths and weaknesses... but there is something God just LOVES about each of them.  He's put a piece of himself in introverts and extroverts, in people who see black & white and those who see color, in the nerds and the free spirits.  They all reflect who He is!  And that's incredible!!

So even when you get bugged or someone doesn't understand you - take a moment to enjoy the variety in other people and to discover an aspect of God's character that you might not have seen or appreciated before!

22.

Birthday Post!!

"I've charted stars, and they're always constant. But these--they appear every year on my birthday, Mother, only on my birthday. And I can't help but feel like they're meant for me."

Well, I thought I'd share some birthday fun-facts. Some of you may already know these, but I thought some of you may not, so here you are:

1. My mother went in to labor with my 8 weeks early. I guess I was bit eager. Nothing's changed.

Her doctor put her on bed rest and in that time she read the entirety of both the Little House and Anne of Green Gables series. I am convinced they altered my personality =)

2. Twenty-two years ago today, I made my entrance to "Eye of the Tiger." No really--my mom had it playing in her delivery room. Isn't she the coolest?

3. I was born with long, full, dark hair. It was nearly an inch long and pretty thick.

4. I am the exact middle of a symmetrical family [girl-boy-girl-boy-girl], so I have the joy of sharing every kind of sibling combo there is. It's fun!

One other little fun-fact about me--not really about my birthday, just childhood.

When I was a little girl, I would get all dressed up in fancy clothes and tell my mom I was going "to the ball to meet the Prince and learn how to read." Priorities. From the begging.

Do you have any fun family stories like that? Do share!

For now, have a fantastic day =)

Today

Snow. Starbucks. Tangled.

With this fun and fabulous lady

Being snowed-in is fun when you have cool neighbors =)