Dear Reader:

I do believe if everyone (all mankind) started out on earth equally…physically and mentally…and lined up next to each other for the Race of Life…given the exact same obstacles (ahead of them) to deal with…some participants would handle the obstacles with little stress or distress…while others would let the first obstacles prevent them from continuing along the path to their personal fulfillment.

The difference? Attitude! 

I read two conversational sentences in the last Mitford series novel that spoke volumes to me Wednesday evening. I went to bed thinking about it and woke up yesterday morning with the scene and conversation swirling around in my imagination.

Let me introduce Harley Welch to you (one of the colorful characters who lives in the fictitious town of Mitford, NC)…a man of many talents and, most importantly, the person who will always have your back through life.

He has grown up dirt poor in Kentucky, has  little schooling, and as a youth and young man resorted to what he called his ‘liquor-running’ days. A neighborhood child, a little girl, actually teaches him to read, write and love history while he protects  and shelters her from an abusive father.

As fate would have it he ends up renting a basement apartment from Father Tim and later moves in with Father Tim’s adopted son, Dooley and his wife Lace (once the little girl who educated him). He is capable of doing just about any kind of work…a jack of all trades and he becomes an essential part of the family…more like a beloved uncle.

One day he tells Father Tim about an episode at school that happened to him on his very first day when he was a little boy. He remembers being so excited to be going to school but he barely had enough clothing to cover himself.

As he heard his name called from the roll…he stood up by his desk (as he had seen the other children do) and repeated his name… proudly again. Then he noticed the teacher staring down at his feet. She said loudly, ” Harley, you’ve lost a shoe.” Amid the snickers of laughter from his classmates… Harley stared down at his feet and then (proud as punch) grinning from ear to ear responded with…

” No Ma’am…I found one.”

Attitude. I will never forget those two lines for as long as I live…life in a nutshell.

So until tomorrow…”Life is what you make it…always has been, always will be.” Grandma Moses or Eleanor Roosevelt (Good quote even if researchers disagree on the source 🙂

*The comedian Jack Benny once said, “Apparently I have an attitude. Who knew?”  ( The secret is having the right attitude at the right moment in life…timing is everything.)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Eloise is in training for when she has to push Grandmother Boo in a moving chair one day…hopefully not in the near future!

Joan…it just isn’t Easter without your precious watercolor painting welcoming in the season.