I love these little quotables cards, and over the years I’ve been collecting them. This one fell out of some boxes when I was moving some stuff around the other day. At first the bold font and initial simplicity of the statement brought a smile to my face. Then I started laughing.

Success in EVERY endeavor? That seems a little extreme, and like a lot to ask for. And frankly, just not anything I’d every ask for or wish for anyone.

How about… “May the Gods grant you success in the endeavors that mean the most to you, in the endeavors that make you the best version of yourself. May the Gods always give you enough success to be happy yet humble, to be fulfilled yet wanting more. May the Gods know best what to let you fail, when the failure of the endeavor is more powerful than success. When failures come may the Gods not make it fast or too painful all at once. Instead may the Gods grant you failure on your own terms, at your own pace. May these failures the Gods bring you allow the successes to be more appreciated. May the Gods grant you many endeavors.”

But that wouldn’t fit easily on a card…

me & LeBron

I miss the Midwest like crazy. I haven’t been able to really articulate this or understand it. At least not until my Dad read me an article that explained LeBron James’ decision to return to Cleveland.

The article says…

“Now he’s all about the return. It’s a Midwestern thing, about family and neighborhood and the people who knew you when you were a kid. And I’m not saying other people, born in other parts of the country don’t feel it. Sure they feel it. They often talk about it. But Midwesterners act on it. Perhaps that’s because the only time our insides feel comfortable and settled is when we’re home. Yes it’s tribal, about being part of a clan, whether you’re from the city and can still smell the neighborhood in your memory or if you’re from some town surrounded by soybean fields. Iowa knows this, and Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, and Kansas and Minnesota, Michigan and Missouri know it. North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Ohio know it too. Cleveland knows. Chicago knows. LeBron knows. And the outlanders trying to mock it? Or the ones who call us ‘The Heartland’ as they fly overhead? You can’t explain it to them. They can’t comprehend. It’s as if they’re from abother country, without the language for understanding. Perhaps that’s because they are from another country, usually one of our coasts, or they’re from Washington, the capital of the world, which might as well be another country for the psychic distance between us. Washington is a place, like LA, like New York, where people go to make new lives. And in exchange for those lives, in media, politics, business or the arts, they give up a great deal of their past. But if you’re from the Midwest and you’ve gone away, then returned determined to stick it out, then you’ll understand. And you’ll understand LeBron.”

The article finishes…

“He’s a Midwesterner. And we understand him.”

I understand him.

The future has an ancient heart

“‘The future has an ancient heart.’ I love it because it expresses with such grace and economy what is certainly true – that who we become is born of who we most primitively are; that we both know and cannot possibly know what it is we’ve yet to make manifest in our lives. I think it’s a useful sentiment for you to reflect upon now, at this moment when the future likely feels the opposite of ancient, when instead it feels like a Lanborghini that’s pulled up to the curb while every voice around demands you get in and drive.”

– Tiny Beautiful Things, Cheryl Strayed