Her entire life…. she believed in life.  And love.
So it was…. that Lilly hoped and prayed that Prince Charming would come along.  One day.
Yes. She would kiss him…. and he would turn into a wonderful, incredible, amazing frog.
And they would live together…. happily ever after… there in that pond.

And that is what fairy tales are made of.

“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”  –  William James

There is so much to appreciate about one another.  We are all so very unique…. but simultaneously…. so very much the same.
Those are the things that really give me cause to wonder.

I do wonder.
A flower does not choose what color is comes to be.
Neither do we humans.
And when we all can begin to realize this about one another,  we will finally begin to see each other’s beauty.  Without labels.  Without predefined names and conditions.

So many good things to see.

“Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.” – Albert Einstein

I was working outside this evening.
I kept hearing little humming noises.  But I couldn’t pinpoint the source.  And then I figured it out.
I listened very closely.  And THEN…. I could make out the words….
“Roxanne.  You don’t have to put on the red light
Roxanne.  You don’t have to put on the red light.”
And I spotted two little bees…just a singing away.
I said.. “Hey there little fellas.  I can tell by the song you are singing that you are fans of The Police.”
The one little bee shook his head and said…”Well.  Not so much.  In fact… we really just like …. STING.”

“Be yourself. Unapologetically.”  – Kesha

On June 11, more than a century ago, a woman named Jeanette was born.  I like the name Jeanette.  It was my grandma’s name.  And it is my sister’s middle name.  At any rate, the year was 1880.

Jeanette was born…. of all places…  near Missoula, Montana.  Her Mom was a schoolteacher …… Olive Pickering….  and her pop was a Canadian immigrant.  He was also a carpenter, and rancher, and his name was John Rankin.

Jeanette was the oldest of six children including five girls, one of whom died in childhood.

Now… as a child, little Jeanette gained a reputation for doing things most other girls didn’t.   Yeppers, indeed.   She often helped ranch hands with machinery, and once single-handedly built a sidewalk to help her father rent a building.  Way back when.

Jeanette continued her way of  doing things that “girls” weren’t supposed to do…… her entire life.  As it turns out, she grew up to be the first women elected to Congress.

Sure enough.  Elected in Montana in 1916 and again in 1940. After being elected in 1916 she said, “I may be the first woman member of Congress but I won’t be the last.”  (She got that right, I’ll tell you.)

A lifelong pacifist, she was one of fifty members of Congress who voted against entry into World War I in 1917, and the only member of Congress who voted against declaring war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Her entire life was filled with working and doing and being…. a better person….  making things better around her.

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973)
Peace baby.  Peace.

“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.” – Napolean Bonaparte

I used to be a ball player.  Not so much anymore.  I have lots of friends who are ball players though.

But as such, you get the inside scoop on these matters.  Dugout Dissin’ and all.

Oh, for a little instance.  Like…..

Did you know that Cinderella was kicked off her softball team?
Sure enough.  It was because she ran away from the ball.

She didn’t mind though.  Her team was terrible.
You see.  They had a pumpkin for a coach.

At any rate.  Once she quit, she went back home.  And, since she was still in the softball mood, and all …. she decide to bake a cake.
She used oven mitts, bunt pans, and lots of batter.

With that nice big cake on hand, she called up her friend.  Her friend also happened to be the umpire.  The poor guy was pretty darn heavy though.  It seems he was always cleaning the plate.

Okay.  Enough of all of that.  The best part of softball is learning life lessons.  Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, the other team still wins.  I don’t know why this is.  But it is true.  It is true of life too.   But perhaps…. there is more than one way to win.

“Wherever you are– be all there.” – Jim Elliot

Esther looked up from her nap.
Suddenly, the reality hit her.  She was not a Diva of the  New York Metropolitan Opera.  No.
This truly was just a barn yard.
She really was just a cow.  And.  This was her mundane cow reality.

Yet it all felt better somehow.  She mooed.  It sounded good.

The rest of the cows immediately arose, and gave her a standing ovation.

“Be that self which one truly is.” – Soren Kierkegaard

Will Shakespeare hawked the phrase… yep.  It was plagiarism.  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, he said.
Now. Whoever first said…. “A rose by any other name is still a rose”…..  was pretty right about that.

But this is universally applicable.

It can be said about anything really.
Organic apricots.
Tiddly-Winks.
Cheeseburgers.
Pillows.
Anything.
Dog crap by any other name is still dog crap.
Not nearly as poetic.   And yet…..

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller

And tonight…. the notion of parallel realities occurred to me once again.
I was in the company of a six-year-old.  He and I are pals.  We decided to play a video game… because he loves video games.  What the heck.  So do I.

We were engrossed in the perils of the game.  We crossed a dangerous swinging bridge, and once we arrived on the other side… we were attacked by a four-legged hoofed creature.  We did not put up a fight.  We ran like scared little Zelda Dudes.  But we got away safely.

Meanwhile, outside.   Mary was with the three-year-old.  They were playing at the swing set.  That is what they like to do.  Suddenly, in the midst of their game, they were charged by a doe….  a large healthy doe with four legs and hoofs.   They too, ran like little Zelda Dudes.  But they got away safely.

Parallel Realities.  In our own little space….. within a 100 yards of one another.

I can’t even to imagine the number of whirls and swirls.. going on at this very second… in all the universe.  At the very same moment.  In all of infinity.

“Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” – John F. Kennedy

Every day, I find a mystery or two.
I like that about days…. the little mysteries which amaze, amuse, scare or delight me…. depending on the  uncertainty factor.

And today, I had several.
But perhaps the greatest of them was this photo.  I found this in a box of my Mom’s photographs.  I asked her if she knew any of the people pictured.

She was very sure of herself when she answered.
“Well sure honey.  I’m in the middle, then on my left is Betty Thorkenberry, and next to her is Velma Rodderhoff.  Then on the other side is Rose Caplan, and on the end there is Carol Hodert.”

“Mom… what do you think about putting your glasses on and having another look?”
She put her glasses on and had another look.
Same answer.  This surprised me to NO end.

The woman in the middle is not my Mom.  I am pretty dang sure of it.

And yet…..I am not sure if she just couldn’t see it well enough… or if she truly thought it was herself.

She stared long and hard at it again… and said…  “And look how THIN I was in this picture.”

Sure enough.  Thinner than she’s ever been in her whole life.
And we see what we do.  All of us.

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” – Marcus Aurelius

Happy is as Happy does.

Everyone seems to be in search of Happiness.

But for me.  It comes down to this.

There is nothing quite so happy as a sock monkey on a swing.

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”   – Dalai Lama

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama