Friday, May 27, 2011

The Best Things In Life Are Free

Sorry if that ol' 80s song gets stuck in your head for awhile.  It's not really supposta be a Janet (Ms. Jackson if you're nasty)/Luther Vandross moment, just a statement of truth.  Specifically, today is library discard day at my school and there are 2 whole carts of free books to choose from.  I love this; it's like a holiday to me.  Free books = sa-weet!  I picked up a whole set of 60s field guides, on everything from butterflies to seashells to ferns to larger mammals of Africa (with a pangolin on the cover!).  OM scored The Hodgepodge Book and I know for a fact that this is a rare treasure.  Have you seen this book?  Erin and I had it as kids and luvvved it.  It's so full of funny nonsense!  I have our copy now (sorry, Airbo--don't know how I ended up with it) and my mom tried to find one for Erin's kids at Powell's and they told her it was out of print and in demand, selling for up to $80-$90.  OM is the lucky business, no?  We also both scored a nice big box of wood scraps from the shop class.  Our kids can use them to hammer on, though I may claim half of  it for next year's wood stove kindling (I know, I'm too practical and should let the kids have it all and maybe I will...). Anyway, the riches are raining down on us here at school today! 

So, those are the tangibles.  The intangible list of 'best things' is even more substantial.  It's who we love, spending time together, listening, playing, imagining, doing real work, noticing, all of the glory of our natural world, chickens, hammocks, etc.  And it's trusting yourself enough to live your own life, any ding dang way you please.  And knowing that sort of truth is good enough, regardless of society's rules or anyone else's expectations of you. 

To quote from the other, old-timey song, The Best Things In Life Are Free,
"And love can come to ev'ryone
 the best things in life are free."

1 comment:

  1. Tried to post on the train post from yesterday but alas was having no luck. Have a few things to say....

    1) thanks for the frequent posts, they are great and i'm enjoying the fact that you post so often

    2) your mention of SEP in the last post made me want to give a hearty YAY for all the great people there including you so glad we met!

    3) amelie as inspiration for france trip=chouette!

    4) i can so relate to the whole idea that you can be quite content in life but still "hear that train" sometimes and wonder isn't it exciting to think about what's coming next for us all?

    Happy Friday!
    Cornelia

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