“The world is violent and mercurial–it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love–love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.”
― Tennessee Williams
2017 Best: A Reflection
As I write, I am sitting in my studio. It is dark outside, and snow flutters down outside the window. I can see the flakes in the glow of the Christmas lights decorating the Magnolia in the front of my home. My sons are playing games together in the next room — they are loud and boisterous, happy. My dog, Poppy, is asleep at my feet, and our cat Morzh is burrowed in the cardboard cave my 16-year-old son built for him this morning. We are warm and it is very cold out, our bellies are full, and we have everything we need. It is such a tremendous blessing to reflect on this at year’s end, to remember how many gifts we have been given in this year, and in this day and hour. They are countless, and I am grateful.
I began 2017 with the above quote by Tennessee Williams, a quote I discovered in the circumstances surrounding one of my friend’s daughter’s lung transplant. In her late twenties, this friend’s daughter had lived her whole life with cystic fibrosis, and the last two years of it, she spent waiting for a lung transplant. When she received it, the transplant failed. I cannot imagine the pain that surrounds that situation, and the bravery my friend, her husband, and her daughter contained. Their hope was unwavering, my friend’s still is. There is hope, even when all is lost. My friend’s daughter wrote the above quote about life and love, above, and my friend discovered it in her writing after she had died. It moved me, deeply. Yes, this is the purpose of our days: to love.
So my word for 2017 is love. It has been at the front of everything I do, and have done.
This year has held much wonder, love, hope, and joy — and has brought pain and heartache, too. But through it all, no matter what, there is hope. And there is love. Love will remain.
My 2017 7 Best: Photos, Quotes, and Books
Every year, I recap here on my website the best photographs from the year. I have many this year which have not been edited, and thus won’t appear in this recap. My favorites are from some of the most treasured moments of 2017– Spring Break with my sons, a trip to Lake Como, Italy, in the summer, the built-in bookcase I built with my own two hands …
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” ― Babe Ruth
“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” –Audrey Hepburn
“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” ― Anne Frank
“Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours; let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow.” ― Kahlil Gibran
“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Sending warm wishes for a wonderful rest of 2017 and a great beginning to 2018, to come!
This blog is clearly a labor of love. The beauty of the photos and the inspirational quotes are your messages of love to the world. Thank you for continuing to send them out – not knowing whom they will reach but having well founded faith that they will touch those whom they are meant to touch. Wishing you and your family a stellar 2018 filled with light, love and laughter.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Barbara. Yes. I appreciate your message very much — wishing you and yours a wonderful 2018, as well!