Opposite

Well February is off to a roaring start. I feel the need to mention that today was about as opposite to the rainbows and sparkles of my Monday and Tuesday as possible. It all started at 5am with a barfing child and didn't improve much afterwards. I'm exhausted and I don't have any pictures to share, just this lackluster description of my tough day. Oh, life and all of your ups and downs, did you have to chew me up, spit me out, and leave me in a trampled over-emotional heap tonight?

Nothing earth-shattering or even out of the ordinary (bad or good) happened today. I'm not trying to be cryptic; I'm just sleep deprived from various wee-hour inconveniences spreading me thin throughout the week and too worn out to go into detail. After writing all of those happy bouncy hopeful words here earlier this week it seemed dishonest not to share that my Thursday was about as Thursdayish as it could possibly be, right down to the chilly gray drizzle outside. The trenches are extra muddy tonight.

Tomorrow is another day. In the wise words of Rubeus Hagrid, "what's going to happen is going to happen, and we'll meet it when it comes."

One of the things I like about reading on a Kindle is all of the lines I highlight are stored in a file. I can open that file on my Kindle and read all of the best parts of my favorite books one quote after another. I just spent an hour browsing my past book quote highlights, and it was like visiting dear friends, each one with a jewel of wit or wisdom to impart. Tonigh those words are cheering me up in all their applicable variety:

"I shall be a vestibule of unhampered sanity." --Marissa Meyer, Winter

"Did you ever hear of such a discouraging series of events? It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anyone can rise to a crisis and face crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh--I really think that requires SPIRIT." --Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs

"I like winter to be winter with snow instead of rain." --Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs

"Love was the thing that kept a person going past exhaustion, beyond reason, after hope was at its end." --Laurie R. King, The Murder of Mary Russell

"There's no shame in being desperate where chocolate is concerned." --B. B. Green, Backtrack

"This was the problem of being tall myself. I always judged others by their height." --Nichole Van, Gladly Beyond

"Shall we make a new rule of life...always try to be a little kinder than is necessary? ...we carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness." --R. J. Palacio, Wonder

"Right now I'd like all of my troubles to stand in front of me in a straight line, and one by one I'd give each a black eye." --Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl

"They were a threat to the furniture, but it was cheerful to hear them laugh." --MaryAnn Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

"The possibilities seemed endless, which made it all the more exciting, since possibilities are so much more thrilling than certainties--or so I've always thought." --Alan Bradley, The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

"'We're not dead,' I say. No one dead feels this tired." --Ally Condie, Crossed