Dear Friend, I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be. -Joan Didion Something I've learned in the past year: if my heart start

       
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Dear Friend,

I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be. -Joan Didion

Something I've learned in the past year: if my heart starts longing for something...God is moving pieces of my life around.

In new news, last week, we moved into a new home. We left the inn a few months earlier than expected. God is moving the pieces of my life around again. My heart is always open, in the spirit of a Thomas Merton quote the other day and it included this: And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

The image quote at the top of this letter is from the movie About Time, the best movie I saw in 2014. Imagine how many things we would do differently if we knew we had come back to this day...deliberately. Would I be so impatient in the DMV line? Would I look at my iPhone while at dinner with friends or family? Would I freak out at the pile of paperwork on my desk? It changes everything. A shift in perspective. Everything is in awe.

I was still ringing. I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck. -Annie Dillard

I am still ringing. I hope it happens over and over again....this being lifted and struck.

Ding.

Dong.

Love,

Ashley

P.S. My OCD required me to date this letter yesterday. Because I started out sending letters in 7 day increments. I am going to try to work on that this year...not having the 7 be so important. But not today. Not yet.

P.P.S. If you've received this letter secondhand, you can leave your email address here to receive my weekly letters.

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"We thought we would stay at the inn for at least a year but I’m like a river…I bend and turn constantly. Following the river’s path. We decided to go ahead and move from the inn since they are closed from now until April. I knew in my heart one night … as we drove up the long winding drive: no lights, no cars, the inn was quiet and dark and suddenly in a deep hibernation. It was going to be a very quiet winter up there for the three of us and I needed a little more space to work:"

...read more...

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What I'm Reading Now:

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How to Be an Explorer of the World

How to Be an Explorer of the World

I bought this book for Boo for Christmas but I've ended up reading it more for myself...bring on the creativity this year.

"How To Be An Explorer Of The World
1. Always Be LOOKING (notice the ground beneath your feet.)
2. Consider Everything Alive & Animate
3. EVERYTHING Is Interesting. Look Closer.
4. Alter Your Course Often.
5. Observe For Long Durations (and short ones).
6. Notice The Stories Going On Around You.
7. Notice PATTERNS. Make CONNECTIONS.
(to be continued)..."

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