Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Anne Frank and Mom

Whoever is happy will make others happy too. -- Anne Frank

If she had not perished at the hands of evil, Anne Frank would have been 83 -- the same age as my mother -- today. It got me to thinking. One is absolutely miserable and does nothing but complain about not being dead yet and how much her circumstances suck. One had the most unsinkable spirit in human history, in the face of unimaginable horror. Who would I rather be?

I had to leave a lunch gathering early yesterday to meet with someone who wanted me to do some editing work for him. He handed me the most well put together document I've ever seen from someone who thought he needed work done :-), and a generous check.

Last night I had to go somewhere with the same group of people, largely, from lunch. One of them asked how my meeting that afternoon had gone. I told her, and she said "I know you're going to be all cynical about this somehow, but I really think your luck is changing. It's time you accept it."

Huh.

I don't know if I'm willing to go that far just yet -- the other shoe can always, always drop in a heartbeat -- but maybe those gratitude lists are causing an attitude shift, incrementally, and the universal powers that be are sensing it. Who knows.

It's not "I get by with a LITTLE help from my friends," BTW -- I get by with a ton of it. I'm very fortunate that way, and that I am in fact aware of. So many have been so thoughtful or come through with practical help or even just hugs (never discount the power of hugs) during this time of transition for me. I'm not always as kind as I could be in return, and I do feel bad about that, but they put up with me anyway -- and I invite anyone to spend a couple weeks living in my brain and see how well they handle it. :-\ Bet you wouldn't be unfailingly pleasant after that experience, either.

And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world. -- Anne Frank

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