You will notice I use lots of quotes in my posts. I love them. I think quoting songs and movies and books and even teachers I have had, and preachers I admire gives your discussion an extra spark. I even have some "quotes" of my own that are well known only to my family and close friends. We won't go there now. I thinking quoting someone or something ( if not done purely to be some inside joke or snobbish "I know everything" attitude) is to give it a little honor, to show you were paying attention. I like that idea. I listen to others and pick up on their little sayings and fave phrases. It's fun.
I had a big birthday last year. I got several books, two of which where quotes and phrases and life lessons from The Peanuts and Dr. Suess. I guess someone has been paying attention to me, too. Thank you. I feel very honored and loved. Some entire books even read like quotes upon quotes. Anna Quindlen's Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is a book my friend sent to me. "Rings True" said the post it note attached. Boy, she wasn't kidding. A book of quotes and thoughts by Fred Rogers, (that's right, you know him as Mr. Rogers!) is a beautiful reminder of what being a parent is all about. Then there is Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Get yourself a really pretty copy to leave on a coffee table, and a beat up copy to read and reread and reread and reread. You get the idea. She talks about nothing much and everything all at the same time. It's one to treasure.
So see if you agree with me. There are few things worse than throwing out a quote in conversation and nobody gets it. Wait... even worse is if they look at you like...Huh? I don't know whether to be embarrassed for them or me, or angry I am hanging with people who are not groovy with the quotes.For heaven's sake, don't explain it, that makes it even worse! It is right up there with talking away to your friend, or husband at a store and when you look up he/she is long gone making you look like you were talking to yourself. How lame. Have you ever tripped and almost fallen in the mall or a parking lot and caught yourself at the very last moment? You quickly swing around to see if anyone saw you and suddenly this uncontrollable giggling starts because you find yourself pretty funny. I once went to the movies with friends and left the theater to use the Ladies' room. Returning to the theater, I slipped (for what seemed like forever, arms flailing, feet grabbing desperately for traction) and eventually caught myself before I fell. I was so embarrassed and immediately got that case of silly laughing thinking about how I must have looked. When I reentered the theater, I took my seat next to my friends in the middle of a sad drama. Every 30 seconds I would start to crack up for no reason. I knew it was wrong. I knew it was disrespectful to every viewer who wiped their eyes as the mother withered of cancer. I hate cancer too. I loved this movie. I thought it was beautifully acted and wonderfully written and the truth is... that made my slip even funnier. Knowing my behavior was so inappropriate was suddenly freakin' hilarious. Oh well. Here's a quote from that movie.
"It's so much easier to be happy, my love. It's so much easier to choose to love the things you have...and you have a lot, instead of always yearning for what you're missing or what you imagine you are missing. It's so much more peaceful." Kate Gulden, One True Thing
I like to use a form of that quote on my teenage daughter. Powerful. I have watched this movie maybe 20 times or more over the years and I still can' t believe I had the audacity to giggle in the theater.*
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