Just a Few of My Favorites

"life is life"

- Lilla

"Life is a dance....you learn as you go"

"If you want happiness....

for an hour-take a nap

for a day- go fishing 

for a month- get married 

for a year- inherit a fortune

for a lifetime- help someone else"

-Chinese Proverb 

"All mean dream, but not equally.  Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they many act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible"

-T.E Lawrence 

"Shit happens...and so does love"
-Vlada

While I was in Serbia, I read a book by a Serbian Noble Peace Prize winner named Ivo Andric.  He wrote about the turmoils that occur in the Balkan region, especially Bosnia.  Here is an exert from his book The Bosnian Chronicles that I recently began reading.  I thought that it was so beautiful and poetic and really hit home with me and how I am beginning to feel about life.  So here it is.  Maybe it will hit home with you as well :)

"So long as a man leads a normal, ordered life among his own kind, such details of his career represent important phases and significant turning points in his life, but as soon as chance, illness, or an assignment separate and isolate him, these highlights begin suddenly to fade and gutter, to wither and shrivel like so many paper-mache masks that one has no use for any more.  And from underneath there begins to emerge our other life, known to only ourselves, the "true" story of our spirit and body, one that has not been set down anywhere and which no other person can begin to guess at, a story that has no visible connection with our successes in society but which, in the final tally of good and evil in our existence, is the only concrete and decisive one"
-Ivo Andric 

Thanks....Again!

I recently found this short story in an old journal of mine.  I was first introduced to this story in my teacher cadet class my senior year of high school.  Every time I read it- it gives me chills.  Enjoy!

 A British family journeyed to Scotland for a summer vacation.  The mother and father were looking forward to enjoying the beautiful Scottish countryside with their young son.  But one day the son wandered off all by himself and got in trouble.  As he walked through the woods, he came across an abandoned swimming hole, and as most boys his age do, he took off his clothes and jumped in.  He was totally unprepared for what happened next.  Before he had time to enjoy the pool of water, he was seized by a vicious attack of cramps.  He began calling for help while fighting a losing battle with the cramps to stay afloat.  Luckily, it happened that in a nearby field a farm boy was working.  When he heard the frantic cries for help, he brought the English boy to safety.  The father whose son had been rescued was of course very grateful.  The next day, he went to meet the youth who had saved his son's life.  As the two talked, the Englishman asked the brave lad what he planned to do with his future.  The boy answered, "Oh, I suppose I'll be a farmer like my father."  The grateful father said, "Is there something else you'd rather do?" "Oh, yes!" answered the Scottish lad.  "I've always wanted to be a doctor.  But we are poor people and could never afford to pay for my education."  "Never mind that," said the Englishman.  "You shall have your heart's desire and study medicine.  Make your plans, and I'll take care of the costs".  So, the Scottish lad did indeed become a doctor.  There is more, Some years later, in December of 1943, Winston Churchill became very ill with pneumonia while in North Africa.  Word was sent to Sir Alexander Fleming, who had discovered the new wonder drug, penicillin, to come immediately.  Flying in from England, Dr. Fleming administered his new drug to the ailing prime minister.  In doing so, he saved Churchill's life for the second time.  For it was the boy Winston Churchill whom Alexander Fleming had rescued from the swimming hole so many years before.
- From the Speakers Library of Business

Every single time I read this is puts life further into perspective to me.  Just one chance encounter can literally change the world.  We never know what difference we are making in life- and what good deeds will make all the difference. 

Loving and Living

                                                
So I haven't had the opportunity to do any major traveling since getting back from Serbia, but I did had a rather delightful experience just a few hours from Clemson. I went kayaking down the Ocoee river with my father.  It was so nice to get some father daughter bonding time in and do something with him that he loves so much. Here's a picture of my tipping over while going over a rapid.  Luckily, I had my wonderful daddy there to help me out of the situation :)

You don't have to travel outside the country to have amazing and fulfilling travel experiences!