The Resolute Woman

Category: friends

  • What’s reasonable?

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    resolutewoman
    in ,

    I’ve noticed that other people often think they are reasonable even when I don’t think they are the least bit sensible. George Eliot in her book Middlemarch reminded me that some people may think that my opinions are not as reasonable as I think they are. Sir James, Eliot wrote, “did not usually find it…

  • Everything’s better with friends

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    resolutewoman
    in

    My husband, Jerry, and I just returned from an action-packed vacation in Maine. We hiked up Sabattus Mountain, canoed on the Saco River and kayaked on Keyes Pond. We visited Cathedral Ledge in nearby New Hampshire, shopped at L.L. Bean in Freeport and drove along the magnificent Maine coast. We ate lobster with lots of…

  • Food and friends

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    resolutewoman
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    The last night we were in Maine, we gorged on lobster with lots of butter, corn on the cob, fried green tomatoes and warm blueberry pie with ice cream. It was a spectacular feast, and I enjoyed every bite while sitting on the cabin’s screened porch. I ate slowly, talking to my good friends and…

  • Competitive canoeing

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    by

    resolutewoman
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    When I canoed seven miles on the Saco River during my vacation in Maine, I ended up with a red, raw spot where I rubbed the skin off the upper part of my thumb. It’s a trophy I proudly display to prove that I did my share of the paddling. I almost didn’t go canoeing.…

  • Finding and giving kindness

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    resolutewoman
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    Boris says: “None of us ever finds enough kindness in the world, do we?” And, Theo finally realizes: “It didn’t occur to me then, though it certainly does now, that it was years since I’d roused myself from my stupor of misery and self-absorption, (that) there were a lot of small, easy, everyday kindnesses I’d…

  • Pure good or pure bad?

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    resolutewoman
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    I just finished reading all 771 pages of Donna Tartt’s book The Goldfinch, and I’ve been thinking about something Boris said: “Maybe this is one instance where you can’t boil down to pure ‘good’ or pure ‘bad’ like you always want to do. Like, your two different piles? Bad over there, good over here? Maybe…

  • Don’t take it personally

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    resolutewoman
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    When I was confiding to my sister-in-law Jeany about something a friend did that hurt my feelings, she reminded me of something very important. “Don’t take things personally,” she said. And, then, Jeany told me about an interesting book she re-reads periodically. It’s the The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. “Personal importance, or taking…

  • Live delightfully

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    resolutewoman
    in ,

    My friend Susan usually arrives in a perky hat. Often with a joke to share. Always with a big smile. Because Susan is a splendid reminder that it’s good to smile and count my blessings, I buy her a Sunrise birthday card that lists some of the rules for “living delightfully.” * Greet each day…

  • Remembering Patti

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    resolutewoman
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    I’m still overwhelmed by sadness when I remember Patti, my good friend and business partner in my real estate business. But, even though I’m grieving, I can’t keep from smiling when I think about Patti’s laughter and her loyalty and her many kindnesses. I’ve been thinking about Patti constantly since she died earlier this month.…

  • Love from my gentle friends

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    resolutewoman
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    I missed my book club’s annual Christmas party because I had a horrible stomach virus. I was very sick and sad—until my friend Eva sent me a card with “sunshine thoughts.” My friend Kathryn made me chicken soup with matzo balls. My friend Olga mailed me a book because I missed the book club book…