Quote and a Letter

If you have ever read a quote before and immediately connected to it, remembering something that had happened in your life where you could relate...this is the place for you. Submit a letter including the actual quote, what you think the quote means to you, and how your life personally connects to it. New quotes will be posted, and I will also include letters written by myself as well. You can use the submit box, or send letters to [email protected]

[quoteandaletter]

In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back.

Charles Schultz

[quoteandaletter]

For a While, I Wanted to Stop Believing...

“You found parts of me I didn’t know existed, and in you I found a love I no longer believed was real.” - Unknown Last week, I had taken a trip out to shop with my mom. We were driving in the car, and I was leaning my head against the back of the seat, exhausted after a long week of work, but happy I had the next couple of days off, and could spend time with my family. I had made a list of things I had wanted to buy from the store, because I had just gotten a recipe book from her for Christmas and wanted to try out a few recipes that had piqued my interest. It was just as the car was turning left, that she decided to tell me that someone had noticed me a few times when I had dropped by her work with her. Apparently, a guy who worked there who was around my age who she didn't know well, and worked in a different department. She had been eating lunch one day in the break room, and a fellow coworker of hers overheard the guy and his friend talking about the girl who always wandered around with my mom, which was me, who he thought was cute. The coworker spoke loud enough that my mom heard when she said, "Oh, that's her daughter!" And then my mom proceeded to walk over and joke that I was single, but added that I would be moving soon. She said the guy seemed embarrassed, and then his friend joked with my mom and said that his buddy would move with me. Even though I'll never know who this guy is, I wish him all the best. Just hearing about something like that reminded me that crushes, romance, and love aren't completely gone even after heartbreak, and maybe there is some hope that the right someone is out there. Maybe not right now, but one day. By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

You found parts of me I didn't know existed, and in you I found a love I no longer believed was real.

Unknown

[quoteandaletter]

The Buddy Program

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, do more, and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” - Dolly Parton When you're younger, anything seems possible. As little kids, we're taught with love, patience, and creativity. Looking back on my grade school years, all of the teachers that I had, and my fellow classmates, were a part of one big family in a way. Our teachers inspired us to grow, to respect one another's ideas, and challenged us to think outside of the box when it came to creativity. When students struggled to learn something, the teachers and other students helped each other to better understand concepts. One memory that I cherished the most, was when we had the buddy program. All of the kids in the older grades, like third, fourth, and fifth grades would have a student from a younger grade such as Kindergarten, First, or Second grade as their buddy. Kind of like a big brother/big sister program. A couple of times a week, we would have an hour or two where we would play with them at recess, or help them do their homework. I thought it was such a great program, because everything that our teachers had taught us, we could help pass on to those younger than us and be like siblings to look up to for kids. It taught us how to act more mature for our age, how to have patience and take care of someone else, and to be little teachers. By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, do more, and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.

Dolly Parton

[quoteandaletter]

Holiday Stress

“Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.” - Nicholas Sparks It wasn't until I flopped over at home after a longer than expected day at work, and after a conversation with my family, that I realized why people get stressed out over the holidays. It seems like the past few days, my relatives from out-of-town have decided to spontaneously announce that they are driving into town and staying there on the days that some of our family members work. While I love how sweet it is that everyone is getting into the holiday spirit and wants to spend some good old family time together, it also makes me feel guilty not being able to change my work schedule because it's already written in stone. Tonight, I got home, only for my mom to announce to me that my aunt and uncle wanted me to get lunch with everyone before my early shift. It was cutting it too close to the time that I would need to get there, so I had to politely decline. And then I found out my Great Aunt had randomly decided to visit today and stay overnight, and was going to said lunch and wanted to see me. So... I tried to work with what I already had, and decided it would be best if I had breakfast with just my grandma and great aunt before work, and then get dinner with the rest of the family after work. Maybe that's what love sometimes is...trying to make things work because you care. You can't always see it, but you can feel the happiness exuding from the people you spend time with. And that makes life worth it. By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.

Nicholas Sparks

[quoteandaletter]

Dating is Daunting

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” - John Lennon About a week ago, I had a casual conversation with one of my best friends, when she asked if I was dating my crush yet. My answer to that was, "Nope, I've given up." If I was my teen self from high school, I probably would have been major fan girling over this guy, dreaming about how he would magically ask me out the next time I would see him. In my defense, I read one too many Twilight books, and watched so many romantic comedies in junior high and high school. I suppose that's one of the amazing things about being young and having a crush. You become so excited over all of the possibilities that life could offer, and you keep dreaming. Circling back to the conversation with my friend, the reason I gave up on trying to get to know my crush better, or try to impress him with wit, was because after years of dating my ex and then breaking up with him last year, I just don't think I'm ready to date anyone else just yet, nor try to flirt. Loving someone and dating them for two years, only to find out that they didn't love you as much as you loved them, definitely hurts. I've been there before, and thought that maybe he could be my soulmate, but I was wrong in the end. The idea of putting myself out there to that possible vulnerability again, is somewhat daunting. Rejection is a scary thought, no matter how it's done. But, rejection also makes you stronger as a person. It kind of makes you go into a mode where you want to better yourself and improve. Even with a rejected love, you learn how to not regret the moments in the past where you loved to your fullest potential. I know that one day, I'll get to that place where I'm ready to be courageous and take chances, and open up my heart to love again. When it happens, though, I hope it will be the kind of love that lasts forever. By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.

John Lennon

[quoteandaletter]

Everyone Dreams of One Day...

“Despite the forecast, live like it’s Spring.” - Lilly Pulitzer

Three days ago, I found myself thinking about the future of next year, and a part of me started to panic. The other part was like, “Yea! It’s going to be 2017 soon, and the start of a new year is always a time for change.” The other half of me felt disoriented. It’s easy to feel that some days, by this day and age, I should be at a certain point in my life.

Lots of people are getting married, or having kids, or have their dream job, or seem to travel to beautiful places doing mission work, or they’ve moved to study abroad. Social media constantly reminds me of the dream life that would be nice to one day work towards. Pinterest is a daily reminder of that, Instagram, tumblr, and Facebook.

But then I have to remember that everyone starts somewhere from the beginning, whether or not it’s the job, or place, you want to spend the rest of your life at. You just have to take your dreams one step at a time. The future is scary, only if you let it be. You just have to remember that even in the times that you doubt yourself, or you feel down, the next day is the beginning of something new, just like spring.

By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

Despite the forecast, live like it's Spring.

Lilly Pulitzer

[quoteandaletter]

Trying to Live in the Moment

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” - Wayne Dyer One of the most difficult things I've experienced, is trying to live in the moment. This year, for some reason, seems to have gone by way too quickly. All of the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months are all blending together in a blur of time. It seems like just as I wake up, I was just with friends a day ago, or I was just working hours ago, and then time fast forwards when I don't feel ready for it to. More than anything, I've learned to work with the passing days, rather than think of how little time there seems to be to do the things I once enjoyed. I've been trying to be a bit more spontaneous about spending time with friends and family, and with a bit of holiday time coming up soon, I'll be able to slow down a bit to work on hobbies that I really miss, and start planning for the future. I have optimistic hopes that the rest of this year, and next year will get better. By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Wayne Dyer

[quoteandaletter]

Just One, Not Two...

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

About a month ago, I visited one of my best friends to celebrate her birthday. After going out to lunch, we drove in her car and somehow the subject of my latest crush came up. She asked me if anything else had happened since the last time I talked to her about him, but nothing had. I told her I basically gave up on trying to come up with conversations with him. I had tried a couple of times to talk with him, and one time went really well and he chimed in and seemed happy. But after that, that small spark just withered away. I figured he probably had his own crush on someone else, or maybe he was dating someone already. Maybe I was just embarrassing myself… Who knows.

My friend turned to me and told me that one day I’d find the right person, and at least I knew what not to put up with a guy because of what happened with my ex. I told her I should probably have her and my other best friend approve of this future guy first, but she told me that she trusted my judgment and that this future guy would probably be a good guy. My best friend is so optimistic. You’ve got to love her.

I guess, thinking about the subject more, I talked to her about how I was actually really nervous if I ever did get into another relationship in the future because it would be so different. My only relationship ever had been a long distance relationship for almost two years. So, it’s not like I was constantly going on dates, nor did I have a ton of time to spend together in person leading up to when he asked me out. Most of the time, when we ate somewhere together, it wasn’t like it was a date either. I suppose it’s hard to ever picture being with someone every week, or every few days. And it would be hard to imagine a guy actually buying me a present that was meant for me, and not really for himself.

Every once in a while, I think about things like that. There are times when a wave of loneliness hits me and I realize just how single I am. But I’m usually able to remind myself that it’s completely okay to be single, and that even if I don’t find ‘the one’, I can still live life to its fullest potential. I can still be happy. I can still be complete. And I don’t have to fit in with the ideals of The American Dream.

Maybe that’s what finding inner peace is about…accepting yourself, and accepting what you have, and not being scared of not fitting in.

By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

[quoteandaletter]

Leaving the Past

“True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.”” - Oprah Winfrey You know when you go through life and everything is going well, but then life throws you a curveball to see how you can handle all of the negativity? There was a time when someone I knew was treated badly by strangers. I can't go too in depth about it, but it was a situation where we feared for our safety, and the anger directed just kept on escalating to a point where help was needed. After going through that experience with that person, it taught me how to be better prepared in the future for situations like that in life. It taught me that there will be people in the world who think that treating others with disrespect is okay, even though it's not. There will always be people who take out their anger and frustrations of their own life on others. But...despite those people, there are always people out there who are good people. People who care. People who treat everyone with respect regardless of how they are treated. Reading this quote by Oprah reminded me that as a society, we are always learning from our life experiences. Even the bad experiences teach us something worth knowing. By: Quote and a Letter J.Y.

[quoteandaletter]

True forgiveness is when you can say, "Thank you for that experience."

Oprah Winfrey