2013: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

Sorry, I really tried to restrain myself, but that title just wouldn't go away. A Tale of Two Cities just has the best-ever beginning quote, doesn't it? Rivaled by maybe, "Call me Ishmael," from Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.

I have a terrible memory (thank goodness for Google), but it seems my brain has managed to store a quote or two in my head for nearly every circumstance in life.

As 2013 has drawn to a close, I'm ambivalent. On the one hand, there were a lot of challenges (government furlough, shut-down, choosing to leave my publisher). On the other, there was a lot of excitement (striking out on my own to republish, soccer tournament - what? I love soccer).

But nearly everything was accompanied by a quote. Some of my favorites:

“Honey, Maggie Jones said. Victoria. Listen to me. You're here now. This is where you are.”
― Kent Haruf, Plainsong

Because there's nothing more true than that, is there? No matter where we think we want to be, no matter where we think we miss being, here is where we are, and we have to choose to make the best of it.

From Blessings: "You knew me. You knew me. You knew me better than anyone has ever known me. You knew what kind of person I was. And one look and you passed judgment on me like I was an entirely different person from what you knew."

That passage really touched me, because who among us hasn't experienced that? Leave a job, a publisher, a contract, etc., and it inevitably happens. Someone disbelieves us or falsely accuses us, and we wonder why. After all, they knew us, didn't they? A painful betrayal, but we just have to trust that the ones who count knew us.

Or how about this one: “I have noticed that if you look carefully at people's eyes the first five seconds they look at you, the truth of their feelings will shine through for just an instant before it flickers away.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

It's true, isn't it?

And something to always remember, if we've been disappointed or hurt: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view....Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Because we don't know, do we? Pain, disappointment, fear, anger - these things can sometimes distort a person's perspective. That doesn't make their actions okay, but if we can understand their actions, we can act accordingly.

At the end of the day, life is multifaceted and beautiful. It really is. Good things happen, bad things happen, we help each other, we hurt each other, and whether we realize it or not, we really are all in this together.

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
― Charles Dickens