Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is just out of grasp.
But if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

This quote has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager. In fact, I have a tattoo of a butterfly on my left hip. The body of the butterfly is a perfect heart and the wings are full of color and perfectly symmetrical. It is my only tattoo and I love it.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

-Robert Frost, 1923

It is hard to decide what is my favorite Robert Frost poem. I particularly love this one. Although it immediately brings autumn in New Hampshire to mind, that last line has much more meaning. Nothing gold can stay...

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.

-Euripides, 484BC

Keeping the balance has been the goal of my adult life. My Family, friends, work and I all require time to be nurtured. Balance has been difficult and challenging but important. My father, the work-a-holic, pokes fun at my balance philosophy. I think work defines him. My husband believes that balance has been the key to my blind optimism and enthusiasm for life. My friends appreciate the time I devote to them. The hard part of balance has been me. Balancing work, school, home life, a home renovation project, dinner dates and family birthday parties leaves little time for me. My trips to the gym have become few. My "fluff reading" time has been limited to airports when I am travelling for work. As the quote suggests, living a balanced life brings about wisdom. My goal is to continue to strive for balance and wisdom.

Inspiration

This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me---
The simple News that Nature told---
With tender Majesty

Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see---
For love of Her---Sweet---countrymen---
Judge tenderly---of Me

-Emily Dickinson, 1862