"these is my words": part 2

"I wish the Lord would just knock me over with kindness and goodness and simple purity, because I don't seem to be getting the knack of it on my own."

(pg. 107)

My favorite quotes, thoughts, and lessons from the book:
...
1. "...Papa says that there Pheonix was hotter than the devil's frying pan." (pg. 2)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmen.
2. "...they was sure surprised when I took my rifle and Rose and went past the trees and brought back a deer for venison stew." (pg. 8)
does costco count?
3. "Before the first light is clear, we hear whooping that comes from the open gates of hell. It is much more terrible than my brothers a playing in the yard. We have our rifles ready and begin firing back as arrows rain in on us...I think I was screaming too but it is too awful a noise to know and I am lading along side Mama..." (pg. 11)
sheesh.
4. "My heart aches bad. I asked Papa couldn't we just turn back and go home. He set his hand on my arm and said, Girl, there's never any turning back in life." (pg. 12)
5. "We are low on food and he needs to go hunting..." (pg. 14)
i think i take the grocery store a bit for granted on most days. you?
6. "My face feels all pulled down and I declare I don't think I know how to smile no more. Mama is crying saying it is her fault for letting us go but it is not...Ernest raised himself up and told me I done a good thing and God surely knows it." (pg. 16)
when doing a good thing feels awful:-(
7. "Our axels don't match, but our wheels are turning." (pg. 24)
such is life, don't you think?
8. "Mama would say that the heart is what is important, but I think if I was shorter and filled out more and prettier I would like that just fine." (pg. 26)
the grass is always greener on the other side. AND how the popularity of certain features changes over time!
9. "The Meyers are camped too near us again and they are eating cold mush and sniffling the air as if their noses could eat it. Mrs. Meyers says out loud how she don't 'low no cooking or working on the Lord's Day and we just turn out backs. I guess we been through some hard times and all are pretty thin especially Ernest who looks like a stiff wind would send him to the Territories ahead of us all, and if the Lord is going to grudge us a quail for dinner well then that's that." (pg. 30)
hahahahaha, let this be a lesson to all of us on not being judgmental;-)
10. "Accustomed is what the scarlet velvet woman was. She was accustomed to her sorrows it said, as she had been accustomed to great riches and fine foods. We are accustomed to Indian wars and sorrows and traveling fast and folks dying." (pg. 35)
what am i accustomed to?
11. "I talked to those Mormon sisters...Now I know why people don't want the around as they are pure addled and claim they are all married to the same husband." (pg. 41)
oh, this is not good for our defense in not being polygamists is it....sigh.
12. "I am almost full grown now, and need to have more room in my blouses up top..." (pg. 41)
hahahaha, i laughed so hard reading this!
13. "I wish I had a gift for my family but I don't, so I went to everyone this morning and said Merry Christmas and hugged them and told them they are my Christmas present just being alive." (pg. 43)
i want this simplicity.
14. "This wagon is a treasure chest and I am suddenly struck greddier than ever in my life. I want it so bad I am just beside myself. All these words to read and know is more than my insides can stand and I am trembling all over with excitement." (pg. 44)
every reader's dream!
15. "Well, I don't know those things but I tried to tell him to just wash his face and hands and comb his hair, be an honest man and a good sport and kind hearted to her feelings, and if she doesn't like him he has got to go slow, and bring her flowers and such and tip his hat." (pg. 55)
so cute.
16. "The Army is back from Tombstone and today the soldiers are pulling away with the rest of the few wagons who will go on to Tucson and most of them except the Mormons want to stay there. Maybe those sisters will get tired of traveling and stay too, and find them each a husband but I will likely never know." (pg. 70)
haha, oh dear...
17. "Imagine having twenty-nine dollars to spend on a dress." (pg. 79)
how much do YOU spend on groceries per month???? i know i spend MORE than $29.
18. "He challenged some gambler, and although it was against the law to wear a gun in town (Tombstone), the man had a Colt in his belt..." (pg. 84)
have i mentioned that "Tombstone" is
MOVIE OF ALL TIME???? "i'm your huckleberry" "you ain't no daisy" "oh johnny, i forgot you were there, you may go now."
19. "Lord, tell me this is the last one I will ever have, and I will be forever grateful. If I had any idea, I would have never married as long as I lived...I never understood why a girl would choose to be an old maid, but now I do." (pg. 120 & 121)
E-P-I-D-E-R-A-L.
20. "Every minute of my day and every last thing I do is tied to this little someone else. I am scared to death I will do something wrong, and she will die or grow up meager or sickly...how will I know how to teach her not to be selfish? And how will I teach her to be honest? And how will I know if she has a sickness when she is too little to say what hurts?" (pg. 121)
anyone else ever had these thoughts before? me too.
21. "Tell her I love her, will you? I began to let tears run down my face...But Jimmy said, No, you have to write her and tell her I love her, please...Write her? Tell Miss Ruthanne I loved her always, and he let out a long breath and died." (pg. 127)
good riddance jimmy. i hope you burns down there. curse you jimmy, curse you!
22. "April has become an artist. She got into the blueing bottle and finger painted the white pine floor...made little smears and lines and hand prints." (pg. 137)
it's too quiet in here, what is the toddler into???? i love how later on she talks about not washing it off b/c this may be the only child she has and she wants to remember the blue hand prints. so cute. so loving. when brennan does that to my floors i'll remember this:-)
23. "So I priced a few other things, and decided I would put my soap money in a jar and save up for myself some ladies' niceties that were never before considered as useful as white paint and new saddles had been." (pg. 142)
i LOVED how she said this, what a scream! hahahaha
24. "That man makes me feel like I have my bonnet on backwards." (pg. 148)
my favorite line of the entire book.
25. "But Savannah hugged me and said, Don't you change one little bit...I know Mama and her were crying for love, and for all their dear feelings for our families. They don't know I was crying b/c they are wrong, b/c I am not good like them, nor sweet tempered and loving. I was crying because I felt like they didn't see the real me inside, and if they had they wouldn't shed a single tear at all over me." (pg. 152)
sometimes i feel this way...i'm glad my thoughts are left to me and me only. sometimes i feel like a fraud, but other times i feel like i'm trying to improve and i'm just a work in progress and that can't be so bad.
26. "Also, there is now an ice factory in town and it was so wonderful to have a cold, cold drink in the warm afternoon." (pg. 178)
another thing i take for granted.
27. "Never, never, he said, pay for a man's dinner. Your contribution is simply being company." (pg. 179)
i love these gentlemanly things.
teach your daughters goddesses, teach your daughters;-)
28. "Every time I think I have been just as scared and horrified as a body can be, I ind there is new terror I am to become acquainted with. What is the use of that God?" (pg. 192)
now that my moles are not cancerous, what will i be afraid of next? how about just trying to not worry myself over things like that?! ok, good idea emily, good IDEA emily;-)
29. "It is funny how much more proud people can be of themselves if they never step back and take a good look in a glass." (pg. 226)
30. "Pretty soon Savannah's other baby started to cry, and she covered her chest with two babies and we fixed a shawl over her." (pg. 272)
it's the arizona territories 'HOOTER HIDER'! oh dearie me, twins, nursing twins!
31. Toobuddy being Charlie's walker as a baby (pg. 299)
32. "He said wisdom is not a path, it is a tree." (pg. 317)
33. "It is like some other part of me made up some rules about happiness and I just went along with them without thinking." (pg. 318)
that's how i feel about joining a sorority. yes, alpha gamma delta was the one.
i felt like i had to have those experiences to be happy, but then i realized it wasn't what i really wanted.
34. THEMES: courage, education, perseverance, love, romance, strength, hard work, honesty, Independence, trust, integrity, freedom, renewal.
35. "They will have to ask the star itself where it goes and why it is not content to stay." (pg. 384)
...

goddesses,

what were your favorite quotes, thoughts, and lessons?
tune in monday to see what the June/July selection will be!

let's just say, it's gonna be a GREAT summer:-)