"After all...

...what's a life, anyway?" -Charlotte's Web, E.B. White.

It has been an interesting day. Sometimes, my days go on in a random, odd sequence of unrelated events, but sometimes, they seem to have a theme, like a cheesy dance or a rigged Sacrament meeting.
Today's theme was the above quote. In English, we debated the death penalty and the rights and wrongs thereof. After fists flew and tempers flared, we closed the class with that piercing quote from E.B. White: "After all...what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die." It was a sort of statement as to the fragility of our lives compared with the inevitability of death, and the omnipotence of fate.
After school, my dad called and informed me that my great grandmother had passed away. Again, I got the chills as I thought over our English class. "What's a life, anyway?"

For Family Home Evening, we went to a farm down the street from us, which just had an influx of baby animals. I am by no stretch of the imagination an animal lover...I barely get along with my doggy. Still, I mustered the strength to hold an hours-old baby goat!! Oh, my goodness, he was so tiny, and so warm and soft...he even smelled good, for a goat. He squirmed and and bleated, and I just about fell in love.
As I sat there, stroking his soft, clean(ish) hair, I pondered life. I thought about Charlotte's question: "What's a life, anyway?" and I had a legitimate answer, though it was more of a feeling than a coherent thought. I considered the wonder of life, the beauty of motherhood, and the joys of the family. Obviously, I thought, God never intended us to ask that question. Our lives are His greatest gift to us. I thought over the miracles that I see every day, the miracles of new life, of birth and resurrection, and of peace after death.
And as I sat with that little fuzzy miracle in my arms, examining its little ears and tiny hooves.....the darn thing POOPED ON ME! My warm fuzzies turned into wet nasties, in a split second. (I almost took a picture of my slimy hands for you, dear readers...but I decided to wash them six times instead.)

Walking home, my dad laughed at me, and related to me another perfectly themed quote. This one came not from a fictional spider, but from a Jewish spiritualist hippie guru, Abraham Joshua Heschel.

"A person only dies when he ceases to be surprised."

Now, HE knows what he's talking about.
And I think I'm covered for a little while.

Perfectly at peace,
Girl17.