Mariann

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”
― Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters

“In times of grief and sorrow I will hold you and rock you and take your grief and make it my own. When you cry I cry and when you hurt I hurt. And together we will try to hold back the floods to tears and despair and make it through the potholed street of life”
― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“There was a young man who, you know,
He wanted to make a lot of money
And so he went to this Guru, right.

And he told the Guru,
“You know I wanna be on the same level you’re on.”

And so The Guru said,
“If you wanna be on the same level I’m on,
I’ll meet tomorrow,
At the beach, at 4 AM.”

He’s like,
“The beach?
I said I wanna make money. I don’t wanna swim.”

Guru said,
“If you wanna make money,
I’ll meet you tomorrow. 4 AM.”

So the young man got there 4 AM.
He all ready to rock n’ roll.
Got on a suit.
Should have worn shorts.

The old man grabs his hand and said,
“How bad do you wanna be successful?”

He said, “Real bad”.
[The Guru] He said, “Walk on out in the water.”
So he walks out into the water.

Watch this.
When he walks out into the water it goes waist deep.

So he’s like,
“This guy crazy.
I wanna make money and he got me out here swimming.
I didn’t ask to be a lifeguard.
I wanna make money.”

So he [The Guru] said, “Come out a little further.”
[He] walked out a little further.

Then he had it right around this area,
The shoulder area.

“So this old man crazy.
He making money,
But he crazy.”

So he [The Guru] said,
“Come on out a little further.”

He came out a little further,
It was right at his mouth,
My man like,
“I’m not about to go back in.
This guy out of his mind.”

So the old man said,
“I thought you said you wanted to be successful?”

He said, “I do.”
He [The Guru] said, “Walk a little further.”

He came,
Dropped his head in,
Held him down,
Hold him down,
My man getting scratchy,
Holding him down,
He [The Guru] had him held down,
Just before my man was about to pass out,
He [The Guru] raised him up.

He [The Guru] said, “I got a question for you.”
He [The Guru] said, “When you were underwater, what did you want to do?”

He said, “I wanted to breathe.”

He [The Guru] told the guy; He [The Guru] said,
“When you want to succeed,
As bad as you want to breathe,
Then you’ll be successful.”
― Eric Thomas, The Secret to Success