Susan's Thursday morning note June 4, 2015
Poem and quotes by A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh
Good morning! Hot coffee. Pouring rain. Silence. How can there be such stillness and silence with rain coming down so hard? Little toddler mesmerized with his first little sunflower seed in his hand. Finding out a treasure awaits him inside the little salty house. A little red book next to my mug. 1924. When we Were Very Young. Poetry by A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh. Quaint illustrations. One little picture of a small child sitting on a particular stair not quite halfway down a staircase pondering life. The little scene instantly bringing back images of various staircases I have taken the time to stop a moment. What is it about a quiet staircase asking us to sit a moment to think through life. To help get us to the next moment? Little stuffed teddy bear laying on his side at the top of the staircase in this poem. My mind seeing myself sitting on some particular staircases. Little Holly Hobby doll sitting at the top of mine. Or the moments on outside staircases where the moon sits on the top step. Following this little poem are favorite quotes taken from various Winnie the Pooh books by A.A. Milne.
Halfway Down by A.A. Milne
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
there isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn’t up
And isn’t down.
It isn’t in the nursery,
It isn’t in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
“It isn’t really Anywhere!
It’s somewhere else
Instead!”
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
“I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen.”
“The things that make me different are the things that make me.”
“I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,” said Pooh. “There there,” said Piglet. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.”
“We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?” asked Piglet. “Even longer,” Pooh answered.
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together.. there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart.. I’ll always be with you.”
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
“Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?”
“To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.”
“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
“The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.”
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
“It’s snowing still,” said Eeyore gloomily. “So it is.” “And freezing.” “Is it?” “Yes,” said Eeyore. “However,” he said, brightening up a little, “we haven’t had an earthquake lately.”
“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like, “What about lunch?”
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.”
“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”
“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.”
“To her-
Hand in hand we come
Christopher Robin and I
To lay this book in your lap.
Say you’re surprised?
Say you like it?
Say it’s just what you wanted?
Because it’s yours-
because we love you.”
“One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries.”
“I wonder what Piglet is doing,” thought Pooh. “I wish I were there to be doing it, too.”
“Some people care too much, I think it’s called love.”
“Organization is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up.”
No hurry. Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. Rainy days. The days that we look outside and realize that we have been handed a moment of stillness because of the downpour. Stillness to watch the storm. To stop what we thought was pressing to realize there is no hurry. The reminder by Winnie the Pooh and his friends that life is meant to flow slowly. To have time to sit and watch the banks of the river hold our stories. To have our canoe float so slowly through life that we are able to notice particular scenes as they pass. We shall get there some day. Today the river bank shows us the gifts of spring as a backdrop to our songs. Little hopping birds not noticing they are being bonked every moment with drops almost the size of their eyes. Large trees not affected in the least by the drops that to them are seemingly small. Darkness only given to us with storms. Darkness mixed with daylight. Helping us to slow the river. Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.
Thank you for letting me enter your Thursday again. Rainy days. Winnie the Pooh. Almost synonyms they go so well together. Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering. I’ll take that advice today. As my river flows I’ll try to see the beauty of a few moments of doing nothing. Just going along. Having the words written tonight in stone showing that we had the gift of a few moments of sitting on a particular favorite stair doing nothing. Even if the stair we picture is only in our minds. Even if the stair is in my store on a leather chair with a cup of coffee. We’ll have the coffee brewed. We’ll have the smiles. I hope you can come over again soon to be handed a moment on your particular river…a moment to have no hurry. To do nothing. To be handed a moment of beauty where you can rest your mind. Have a beautiful rainy stormy day. Enjoying the moment of stillness mixed with the sounds. Beautiful. Our gift handed to us today by our angel of dawn as she holds her pretty little umbrella housing a few little dainty wet birds! Susan
Latin for this week:
Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi. – The deepest rivers flow with the least sound.
flovios, flumen, fluvio, fluvius – river
pluit pluvit – it is raining
imber ymber – rain shower, rain storm, pelting rain