Three Volcanoes
The Little Prince climbed a high mountain. The only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes, which came up to his knee. And he used the extinct volcano as a footstool. From a mountain as high as this one, he said to himself, I’ll get a view of the whole planet and all the people on it…But he saw nothing but rocky peaks as sharp as needles.
I called my parents last night to tell them the good news about getting into school. My dad reminded me that, had it not been for the brutal rejections I got in previous years going down a different path, I would not be able to appreciate today’s great events so thoroughly (not to mention, this would never have been possible in the first place). He told me about his early days as an aspiring architect and how difficult it was for him to find his feet in the field and establish himself as an entrepreneur – all stories which I’ve heard bits and pieces of in the past few years as he’s watched me struggle growing up, but I still like hearing about how he eventually found success.
This is a wonderful moment. The past couple of years have been filled with volcanoes, but now I can look back at all the eruptions and know that I came away in one piece. The mountain I’m on now is a temporary high – there’s a lot of hard work ahead, but it’s so nice to be able to stick my head in the clouds and just breathe for now.
Put That Glass Thing Down
“I need to put up with two or three caterpillars if I want to get to know the butterflies. Apparently they’re very beautiful.”
To say the least, this has been a bit of a downer week, with disappointing things happening left and right (not to mention painful, in the case of my right pinky toe). Lately, I’ve been getting frustrated with various plans gone awry and what I suspect is shaping up to be month-long/year-round PMS. Had I been raised with a different background, I can imagine myself heading out for the shooting range, the gym, or a hiking trail to relieve the stress and destructive feelings I’ve been battling with over the past few days. Instead, I’ve been knitting up a storm and my fingers and arms are now feeling quite sore from the tension.
But on the brighter side, amidst so many things going wrong, I did receive a lovely Valentine’s Day present and a phone call from a friend I’ve been missing very much.
Unfortunately France Is Much Too Far
“One day I saw the sun set forty-four times!” And a little later you added, “You know, when you’re feeling very sad, sunsets are wonderful…”
“On the day of the forty-four times, were you feeling very sad?”
But the little prince didn’t answer.
I could have used a couple of sunsets today. And why do we always ask questions we already know the answers to?
Grown-ups Never Understand Anything By Themselves
Doug came across this postcard on PostSecret this week and asked me if I was the one who sent it in. No, it wasn’t, because my copy of the same postcard is still on the bookshelf and that isn’t my handwriting, but it could easily have been me. Plus, it’s no secret to anyone that I learned more from The Little Prince than I did at Cal.
I was introduced to The Little Prince (in English) in elementary school and liked it because it was a cute story. Then I was re-introduced to Le Petit Prince (en Francais) in high school. Needless to say, I loved it more the second time around. I read it again every now and then (and by every now and then I mean at least once a month) because LPP is a book that reveals something new every time you read it.
The postcard has inspired me to start a section called The Daily Prince to highlight parts of the book that make me think. Seeing how this story never ceases to teach, I don’t think I’m going to run out of topics for TDP any time soon.
