a letter from john steinbeck to his son, thom
New York
November 10, 1958
Dear Thom:
We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.
First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.
Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.
You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.
But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.
Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.
The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.
If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.
Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.
It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.
Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.
We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.
And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.
Love,
Fa
celebrating it all
To be completely lost, confused, devastated, and terribly exhausted but incredibly humbled and reminded of His sovereign hand is truly a beautiful thing.
a carousel in montmartre
2/21/11
“Truth is more important that you think,
freedom is more complex than you think,
and Jesus is a lot more liberating than you think.”
- T. Keller
a tree in boston commons on a sunny day
8/29/10
isn't it neat how the sun washes the background out?
love it when the sunlight changes the leave's color
yellow n' green
26
brownies, tim tams, puppy chow, donuts, coffee, nachos, fries, calls, texts, posts, emails..
these are a few of my favorite things
thanks you all for making this a special day 
happiness is a cheeto
I am so very fond of hot cheetos. I really am. Every bite delivers such an awesome punch of spicy perfection to my taste buds, with each successive chip being better than last. What a feat! I don’t care that it’s freakishly red, or that it stains everything in sight. It’s so beautiful to me.
But beyond the taste, I think I’m so attached to spicy cheetos because it brings back such good memories of my childhood. My sister and I would ride our bikes to the local 7-eleven to peruse its shelves of cheap goodies, but always leaving with the same thing – a 99 cent bag of spicy cheetos and a slurpee layered with at least 4 different flavors in the same cup. We’d sit down near a creek right behind the store, and take turns eating the cheetos to see who would succumb to the burn and relieve the pain by drinking the slurpee first. Sometimes our stubborness would leave us with a cup of sugar water, as all the iciness of the slurpy would be lost to the sun. Lots of sweat. Lots of bright red fingers. Lots of laughter.
I wonder what people enjoy more — the event as it happens at that very moment, or when they think back on it. I really don’t know.
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