Families are ecosystems. Each life grows in response to the lives around it Mary Schmich More Quotes by Mary Schmich More Quotes From Mary Schmich Here's a thing about the death of your mother, or anyone else you love: You can't anticipate how you'll feel afterward. People will tell you; a few may be close to right, none exactly right. Mary Schmich mother love-you people Every day each of us wakes up, reaches into drawers and closets, pulls out a costume for the day and proceeds to dress in a style that can only be called preposterous. Mary Schmich wake-up style dresses Chicago is constantly auditioning for the world, determined that one day, on the streets of Barcelona, in Berlin's cabarets, in the coffee shops of Istanbul, people will know and love us in our multidimensional glory, dream of us the way they dream of San Francisco and New York. Mary Schmich coffee new-york dream A line from one of my 1997 columns - 'Do one thing every day that scares you' - is now widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, though I have yet to see any evidence that she ever said it and I don't believe she did. She said some things about fear, but not that thing. Mary Schmich scare lines believe Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you'll have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either of them might run out. Mary Schmich support-you trust running Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Mary Schmich wedding-anniversary divorce children The cell phone has transformed public places into giant phone-a-thons in which callers exist within narcissistic cocoons of private conversations. Like faxes, computer modems and other modern gadgets that have clogged out lives with phony urgency, cell phones represent the 20th Century's escalation of imaginary need. We didn't need cell phones until we had them. Clearly, cell phones cause not only a breakdown of courtesy, but the atrophy of basic skills. Mary Schmich phones cells skills Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Mary Schmich knees gone missing The soul-sucking activity of TV-watching feels better when it is done with other souls. Mary Schmich tvs feel-better soul Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements. Mary Schmich sunscreen old-love letters Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's. Mary Schmich too-much choices half Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young. Mary Schmich youth like-you advice You can figure out who you were by which movies you loved when Mary Schmich figures Do one thing every day that scares you... Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own... Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth. Mary Schmich fishing past thinking I couldn't have foreseen all the good things that have followed my mother's death. The renewed energy, the surprising sweetness of grief. The tenderness I feel for strangers on walkers. The deeper love I have for my siblings and friends. The desire to play the mandolin. The gift of a visitation. Mary Schmich sibling grief mother Don't waste time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. Mary Schmich wasting-time waste jealousy Linda Tripp has shown that a true friend is an archivist, a biographer. Mary Schmich archivists true-friend-is true-friend In twenty years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. Mary Schmich photography looks years Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft Mary Schmich california cities new-york Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good. Mary Schmich family parent gone
