A glimpse of what matters to this writer most and what makes her heart beat a little faster
"Everyone is merely an actor on life's stage..."
You'll find here a glimpse of what matters to me most, and what makes my heart beat a little faster ;)
© 2007-2012
by Estrella Azul
I am constantly amazed at how certain books that I need to read find their way onto my wishlist, my to be read pile and demand being read right then and there until I can barely set them aside to go to sleep.
So glad Paper Towns, by John Green was one of them!
“Shakespeare told us precious little of the man whom he entombed in his linguistic sarcophagus. (Witness also that when we talk about literature, we do so in the present tense. When we speak of the dead, we are not so kind.) You do not immortalize the lost by writing about them. Language buries, but does not resurrect.”
~ John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
I picked up my signed (with purple sharpie) copy of “The Fault in Our Stars” from the post office on Friday afternoon and started reading it Saturday night. By the time I made myself put it down and go to bed it was already 4am.
It makes me wish I had an entire day to set aside for it, to fully experience and process the book, but nights are good too (I sleep very little anyways).
I read another book by John Green before, but chose this one mainly on impulse, because I fell in love with the title. And I am so glad I managed to jump into reading it not quite knowing what it’s all about, and had absolutely no spoilers.
You probably all know by now how much I love reading. Even more so, when a book manages to make me laugh and cry, when it changes me, when it makes me feel so many intense feelings.
It captures so well the mysticism of personhood, and is such a rollercoaster of a book to read, even so far. I have a strong feeling I’ll be re-reading it.
Somehow it’s clear to me that this book chose me just as much as I chose it (or even more).
I highly recommend it to everyone!
“ It’s not always the gifts that are wrapped
which are the best,
but simply those that are shared.
Gifts of time, love, and laughter…
Happy memories that warm the heart
at Christmas time and always.”
I hope every one of you who celebrates it has a wonderful, love, light and laughter filled
Christmas/Yule/Hanukkah/Hogswatch/Kwanzaa/Samhain/Festivus/etc.
May you have a lovely and especially relaxing time and find your desired amount of books/bookish/writerly/foodie/crafty goodies under your tree.
“People do good deeds for many reasons, but sometimes good deeds have bad consequences. Correcting a colleague’s mistake could breed resentment. Opening one’s home to a friend can damage that friendship. Trying to bring a spouse closer might push her further away. That’s why there’s an old expression about helping people – No good deed goes unpunished.
Good deeds aren’t always done for the purest of reasons. We may be trying to impress. We may be acting out of guilt. We may be expecting something in return, but occasionally a good deed comes straight from the heart.”
This is the quote that kept popping up in my mind as I thought of grand gestures lately.
August was the month of grand gestures in the Plan for j’s Love Project. “To be honest, I don’t know exactly what I mean by that, but I think it’s about leaping when you’re scared, loving big, loving more, showing your heart in spectacularly real and enormous ways. I think it’s whatever you say it is, because not everyone’s “grand” looks the same, and thank goodness for that.” j herself said that (this is still her definition now, further elaborated). And I tend to agree.
A grand gesture. I think it’s about doing simple (or sometimes even seemingly small) things like:
Giving my heart even though I knew it will get broken.
Sharing and possibly helping other writers with my guest post.
Helping until my hands hurt and even beyond so everything will get done – then doing the dishes too afterwards.
Not moving for an hour and a half because my cat is finally asleep in my lap.
Going out (when I’d rather stay at home) to take the cat to the vet, and then to keep my friend company.
Walking all over town to find an African Violet just like mine that my grandmother loves the color of so much.
Going to the Torda Salt Mine with my mom to make sure she does something fun too during her holiday.
Traveling to Bonchida to watch a friend dance on stage at the Castle Days Festival event (and to make sure my mom goes on another little trip).
(Offering to, and) Photographing a father hugging his daughter in her wheelchair so they’d have a picture where they are together.
Taking pictures of someone whose camera was broken so he’d have a few moments of his visit to Romania captured on film. And keeping him company that day, because he was alone on a long trip away from home (Canada).
Offering a gift certificate I won to a friend who was able to use it so much better than I would’ve been able to.
Sending pics to friends along with hugs and kisses, just because I thought of them.
Something done straight from the heart.
I think many things qualify as grand gestures if we keep that in consideration.
“There comes a moment when our lives change forever. The moment we admit our weaknesses, the moment we rise to a challenge, the moment we accept a sacrifice, or let a loved one go. And sometimes the change in our lives is an answer to our prayers.”
A friend of mine was wondering out loud a few weeks ago if she was missing the signs.
Now, I may have been more aware since we talked about it, but I answered by saying what I still believe:
signs are easy to miss, they tend to be subtle (unless you’re the main character of a movie, there won’t be any flashing neon lights or arrows pointing towards the right direction).
This makes signs more of a big deal when we actually recognize them (in time).
Yesterday, as I turned the page of my wonderful Book Lover’s Calendar from February to March, the picture and quote of the month stood out more than in the previous two months of 2011.
The picture is of the Chapter One Restaurant’s sign in Dublin. Of course the name is what caught my attention and slowly sank in – “Chapter One”. The first chapter, the beginning of a journey – both literally and figuratively.
As I read the quote of the month at the bottom of the page, I realized - it couldn’t possibly be more spot on as I’m traveling to Paris for a long weekend this Friday.
"If you take a book with you on a journey,…an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it…yes, books are like flypaper–memories cling to the printed page better than anything else."
— Cornelia Funke (Inkheart)
I’ve already decided (last week actually) which books I’m taking with me.
And then, this morning I came across this post from Daisy Janie and fell in love with that last locket cover. Leap! (I sooo want one of those!)
Now, separately I might be inclined to brush them off as mere coincidences.
I mean I find/see/read stuff I like/inspires me and which could be in some way applied to my life on a regular basis.
However, stringing all of these together in an under 24 hours period…
Is it just me, or is the Universe trying to tell me something? 
PS: I’ll be offline for about a week, but I’ll try to tweet about my trip once a day if I can.
“Love is over-thinking for the millionth time what you want to say,
rephrasing, cutting and pasting, editing until you’re out of rational thoughts – then not having to say any of it aloud
because he/she can feel every single one of your unspoken words.”
~ Estrella Azul
