Jennifer

“Watching the two taught me there is no real magic formula. Different things work for different marriages. And even if it seems bizarre to me, it can be the most perfect way for that couple.

I learned that being a unit is a must in any relationship. The family that does everything together, stays together.
I learned that *checking in* with your partner is something I'm going to adopt in my future relationship.

I learned that peace comes when you realize you don't have to fight the little things. And with that peace comes happiness.

That it's all about perspective, and all you have to do is sometimes flip it around in order to see it in a different way or lens.

Surrender.
It *is* the answer.
Once you let go, you realize there is nothing you can do to change what is happening outside of your orbit -- once you realize life will play out the way it wants, no matter how hard you try to make it something else -- that's when you can find true freedom....
When we stop trying to manipulate a situation into whatever desired outcome we need to have happen, life becomes a lot easier. You just flow. You *be.* That's what real surrender is.

I learned that taking chances can lead to something magical.”
― Colet Abedi, Uncaged Summer

“MICHELLE, MA BELLE Paul McCartney had been awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in a ceremony in the East Room. For most of the evening, other artists performed his songs. But for the conclusion, McCartney went onstage to sing some classics. Then he sang “Michelle” to Michelle Obama. I didn’t realize how special the moment was until the next day, when I was talking to the President. What were the odds, he said to me, that an African-American girl from the South Side of Chicago would one day be sitting in the front row of the White House, as the First Lady of the United States, while a member of the Beatles sang her name? Wow, just wow, I thought. June 2, 2010”
― Pete Souza, Obama: An Intimate Portrait

“If you want to make good friends, be a good friend. Send kindness out in big, generous waves, send it near and far, send it through texts and e-mails and calls and words and hugs, send it by showing up, send it by proximity, send it in casseroles, send it with a well-timed “me too,” send it with abandon. Put out exactly what you hope to draw in, and expect it back in kind and in equal measure.”
― Jen Hatmaker, Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life