Dear Reader:

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson has always been one of my favorites. And then it came to me recently that it would make a beautiful epitaph. (He/she) scattered joy. I can think of no higher eulogy or compliment. What a great way to have spent one’s time on earth…scattering joy!

The catalyst for this quote came from a birthday card Ben got Vikki with this quote on the front.  Hallmark then added the following inside thought and message: “Goodness happens wherever you’ve been.”

Don’t we all know or have known people who fall into this category? Just talking to them seems to brighten the day. We feel “gooder” for knowing them personally and comforted, somehow, by simply reassuring ourselves that the world can’t be all bad….because this person lives in it.

Abraham Lincoln, a President plagued by melancholy (depression) most of his life, metaphorically scattered more joy in the worst possible situation during his two terms in office. Upon his election his beloved country divided itself against the other and he is left to “fix it.”

*If I took the time to list all of Lincoln’s accomplishments during his presidency, I would still be typing late into the night…scattering much joy at all the positive changes he made for unity and equality.

Instead let me tell you what I think was his greatest accomplishment. He turned a plural verb into a singular one and it changed the future of our nation.

Before the Civil War….the United States was referred to as: “The United States ARE..” After the Civil War the term- United States- was followed by the singular verb....is. “The United States IS…” This was the President who turned us into a singular country, a singular home to people living in all the states at that time and the others who came in the future. Double WOW!

What an amazing accomplishment! That should continue to be the goal of each President….to keep the “IS” after the United States. We are all One together and that is what makes our country great…diversity of talents and ideas! Alone we are weak…together we are strong.

So until tomorrow….Father…please keep reminding us that we are all your children and as such loved equally by You. Remind us to be open to face-to-face communication over second-hand innuendoes. As humans we share more similarities than differences.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delight of the Day: Out of all the purple morning glories growing in Anne’s yard…Miss Red popped up to add some diversity to the establishment and what a delightful addition “she” has become.

• Sweet Colby sent me a picture of her by a wishing fountain and it reminded her of me and my fountain. She is in the mountains with her beloved grandmother, Jo. I wrote back that I couldn’t think of a better way to be remembered than a fountain filled with pennies of wishes. And I thought one of her wishes must have already been granted…to be on vacation in the mountains with Grandmother Jo! Have fun girls!

*Yesterday afternoon, as the clouds covered the skies and thunder rumbled in the distance, I was just finishing this blog when something caught my peripheral vision outside the window. A little baby bunny, scared of the thunder, ran to my Ginger Shell for refuge. *I know these pictures are a little blurry taking them through a screened window but I think you can see enough to get the idea. It made me so happy!