don't quote me on that...

You know what I hate? When you find a quote that has significant meaning to your life; that feels like it was written for you and you alone...but you may have found it in a less than respectable source.

Tonight, I was reading one of the 20 books I usually read each year – Forever In Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The books are, I think, a great portrait of a group of high school girlfriends. Before each chapter, the author includes a quote that relates to the upcoming chapter. Some of them are funny, my favorite being “I don't have to be careful...I've got a GUN!” by Homer Simpson. I read one tonight that really resonated with me and got out of bed to write about it.

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus

Here's the embarrassing part. I have no idea who Albert Camus is. I had to look him up on Wikipedia and I discovered he was a philosopher and author who was the first Africa-born person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and the second-youngest after Rudyard Kipling.

But as far as I'm concerned, his greatest achievement is a quote in a book about adolescent, soul-searching teenage girls. Sorry Albie.

Let's get back to the quote:
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus

Isn't that wonderful? With the warm weather finally starting to come around (without the rain, thank God), it makes me ache for my youth. Back to the magical days when I didn't have to worry about money, marriage, illnesses, my purpose in life. All I had to worry about was if I was going to get kissed by a boy I liked, if my friends were going to come over to spend the night, if my chores were done on time so I could go out to Whataburger with the girls.

Lately, I'm torn between feeling like I'm waiting for my life to start and feeling like life is rushing by and I can't stop it. But after reading that quote, I felt a surge of happiness and relief. Allow me to use another quote from an embarrassing source: Steel Magnolias. “Miss Clairee, there are still good times to be had.” - Shelby Eatenton.

I'm not sure if I have been experiencing a depth of winter, but I look forward to what is hopefully an invincible summer. I think I'm off to a good start. Today I got a pedicure with my other mother (Nick's mom) and two cute sisters-in-law. And for dinner, Nick and I ate outside at the park by our house and watched kids take great joy in going down the same slide over and over. I have big plans for the rest of the summer that include reading, writing (on the blog and just for me), attending the Harry Potter premiere dressed as Ginny Weasley, lighting fireworks, riding horses, swimming, turning our back patio into a beer garden, perfecting a karaoke song to sing at Cookie's that will get people dancing.

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer...