I Am Rich…

"I am not heartsick because I am rich and they are poor."
"We're not rich, Papa. We're..."
"Yes we are boy. We have one another to tend to, and this land to tend. And one day we'll own it outright. We have Solomon here to wind up a capstan and help us haul our burdens. (...) We have Daisy's hot milk. We got rain to wash up with, to get the grime off us. We can look at sundown and see it all, so that it wets the eye and hastens the heart. We hear all the music that's in the wind, so much music that it itches my feet to start tapping. Just like a fiddle."

-Robert Newton Peck, “A Day No Pigs Would Die”

Don't Wait to Thank People...

"You shouldn't wait to thank people for the good things they do. Words are messy, but sometimes words are all you've got to show what matters most."

-Anne E. Burg, "All the Broken Pieces"

The child that tests you most...

The key to a successful family is how you treat the child who tests you the most. Be grateful for that one child because it gives an example to the rest that shows you are a principle centered parent.

-Steven Covey, Living the Seven Habits

A Blazing Hearth In One's Soul

Photo: Ben Romney, Europe