Finding treasures

Speaking of treasures... today is a celebration in my BFF's life.  Happy birthday, Josie!  She recently sent me a big box full of Goldilock's delectables which allowed me to spend the holidays satisfying my craving for French sponge cake, pastillas and other mouth-watering goodies.  Muchas gracias, amiga!  If you missed my December 30th blog last year on my almost half a century friendship with Josie, please click on this link:  The sister I never had.

After Christmas, I found myself doing something I rarely engage in… decluttering.  Although I’m the type to get attached to anything, including junk mail, recently I decided that enough is enough!

So without giving it much thought, I went to work on shredding piles of documents dating back to the 20^th century.  Then I found old calendars with amazing… yes, breathtaking... photos of flowers and my resolve to throw them instantly melted like butter.  I found inspiring and thought-provoking quotes from presumably famous people of their time (or no one would dare quote them, much less publish their statements, right?).

Before the calendars got tossed in the recycle bin, I electronically saved the phrases so that I could share my awesome find.  Here goes…

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul… Henry Ward Beecher

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom… Marcel Proust

Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies… Charles E. Jefferson

For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair… Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The world is wonderful and beautiful and good beyond one’s wildest imagination… D.H. Lawrence

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake… Henry David Thoreau

All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within… Horace Friess

Everyone must take time to sit and watch leaves turn… Elizabeth Lawrence

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome… Anne Bradstreet

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not…  Ralph Waldo Emerson

This very moment is a seed from which the flowers of tomorrow’s happiness grow… Margaret Lindsey

There is gold, a multitude of rubies:  but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel… Bible Quotes

Few sunrises are greeted as eagerly as those viewed through the eyes of love… Author Unknown

Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance you must keep moving… Albert Einstein

Expect to have hope rekindled… the dry seasons in life do not last.  The spring rains will come again… Sarah Ban Breathnach

What we earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense we are… Anna Jameson

Flowers are love’s truest language… Park Benjamin

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy… Anne Frank

Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us… Sir Thomas Browne

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle… Albert Einstein

Chance is always powerful.  Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish… Ovid

Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him… Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries… Corita Kent

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons… Johann Schiller

Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future… Charles F. Kettering

Journeys at youth are part of the education; but at maturity, are part of the experience… Francis Bacon

Reputation is what other people know about you.  Honor is what you know about yourself… Lois McMaster Bujold

That best portion of a good man’s life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love… William Wordsworth

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter… E.E. Cummings