Thursday 13: 13 quotes to reflect on

y birthday is tomorrow and I'm in a quandary about what cake to make. Seriously. I'm torn between something elegant and grown up (chocolate or lemon, maybe coconut?), or something fun and frivolous (can we say rainbow cake?)...

But whatever the cake, I must say that so far each year gets better than the one before (famous last words), regardless of the number I'm hitting (this year is 42, which is, of course, the answer to life, the universe and everything). There are a few more creaks and groans as physically I am not quite the specimen I was at 22, but in spite of that, I love many of the more subtle aspects of aging, the comfort level with who I am and the bittersweet knowledge that every day is precious, each person is a gift, and I'm so very blessed.

I dug up 13 quotes that really speak to me, all special-for-my-birthday like. A couple of them are a bit longer than typical quotes, per se, but I'm sure you can roll with it...

1. Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.
-Shel Silverstein

2. When things go wrong, you’ll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right they often go on getting better and better.
-C.S. Lewis

3. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it, for the moment when the mountains open and a new light roars in spate through the crack, and the mountains slam.
-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

4. People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.
-Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

5. Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
-Benjamin Franklin

6. There are random moments--tossing a salad, coming up the driveway to the house, ironing the seams flat on a quilt square, standing at the kitchen window and looking out at the delphiniums, hearing a burst of laughter from one of my children’s rooms--when I feel a wavelike rush of joy. This is my true religion: arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness for a life I feel privileged to lead. Think of the way you sometimes see a tiny shaft of sunlight burst through a gap between rocks, the way it then expands to illuminate a much larger space --it’s like that. And it’s like quilting, a thread surfacing and then disappearing into the fabric of ordinary days. It’s not always visible, but it’s what holds everything together.
-Elizabeth Berg, The Art of Mending

7. When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.
-Shenryu Suzuki

8. I regret allowing my life to lie fallow. There are many times when I could be bolder, more adventurous. I’m still learning.
-Tess Marshall

9. There are certain people who bring out the best in you. Just being around them raises your game, makes you a better version of yourself. Let go of those who whittle you down, little by little, to fit you into their smaller experience of the world.
-Karina Allrich

10. If you're not failing now and again, it's a sign you're playing it safe.
-Woody Allen

11. Your life is something opaque, not transparent, as long as you look at it in an ordinary human way. But if you hold it up against the light of God's goodness, it shines and turns transparent, radiant and bright. And then you ask yourself in amazement: Is this really my own life I see before me?
-Albert Schweitzer

12. Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.
-Eliza Tabor

13. If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.
-Anthony de Mello

 I hope there are a couple that speak to you too! Happy Thursday 13.

For more Thursday 13 folk, go here.