BITS & BYTES

This page will be a collection of all my favourite quotes, sayings, and poems, as well as some funny and inspirational writings.

We may give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.

Know that everything happens... At just the right time.... in just the right place... with just the right people...

It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other
and honor him for what he is.
... Pygmalian

"I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you.
But if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work
and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you."
.... Maya Angelou

Recompense
~~~~~~~~~~~
Who never wept knows laughter but a jest,
Who never failed no victory has sought,
Who never suffered, never lived his best,
Who never doubted, never really thought;
Who never feared, real courage has not shown,
Who never faultered, lacks a real intent,
Whose soul was never troubled, has not known,
The sweetness and the peace of real content.

~ E.M.Brainerd ~

Dare To Believe:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That you are a wonderful, unique person.
That you are a once-in-all-history event.
That it's more than a right, it's your duty, to be who you are.
That life is not a problem to solve, but a gift to cherish.
And you'll be able to stay one up on what used to get you down.

~ Author Unknown ~

After a While
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand
and chaining a soul
and you learn that love doesn't
mean leaning
and company doesn't
always mean security.
And you begin to learn
that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises.
And you begin to accept
your defeats
with your head up
and your eyes ahead
with the grace of a woman
not the grief of a child
and you learn
to build all your roads
on today
because tomorrow's ground
is too uncertain for plans
and futures
have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.
And you learn
that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
and you learn,
and you learn
with every goodbye, you learn.

~ by Veronica A. Shoffstall ~

  LIVING

To touch the cup with eager lips and taste, not drain it;
To woo and tempt and court a bliss -- and not attain it;
To fondle and caress a joy, yet hold it lightly,
Lest it become necessity and cling too tightly;
To watch the sun set in the west without regretting;
To hail its advent in the east -- the night forgetting;
To smother care in happiness and grief in laughter;
To hold the present close -- not questioning hereafter;
To have enough to share -- to know the joy of giving;
To thrill with all the sweets of life -- is living.

~ Anonymous ~

SUCCESS
~~~~~~~~
To have laughed often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition,
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

What Cancer Can NOT Do
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cancer is so limited...
It can not cripple love,
It can not shatter hope,
It can not corrode faith,
It can not destroy peace,
It can not kill friendship,
It can not suppress memories,
It can not silence courage,
It can not invade the soul,
It can not steal eternal life,
It can not conquer the spirit.
~ Author Unknown ~

~~~~INFORMATION PLEASE~~~~

When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished old case fastened to the wall.
The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother used to talk to it.
Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person - her name was Information Please and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anybody's number and the correct time.
My first personal experience with this genie-in-the-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn't seem to be any reason in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy. I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway - The telephone!
Quickly I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear. Information Please I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. "Information."
"I hurt my finger. . ." I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.
"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.
"Nobody's home but me." I blubbered.
"Are you bleeding?"
"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."
"Can you open your icebox?" she asked. I said I could. "Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger."
After that I called Information Please for everything.
I asked her for help with my geography and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math, and she told me my pet chipmunk I had caught in the park just the day before would eat fruits and nuts.
And there was the time that Petey, our pet canary died. I called Information Please and told her the sad story. She listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was unconsoled. Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers, feet up on the bottom of a cage?
She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in." Somehow I felt better.
Another day I was on the telephone. "Information Please."
"Information," said the now familiar voice.
"How do you spell fix?" I asked.
All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Then when I was 9 years old, we moved across the country to Boston. I missed my friend very much. Information Please belonged in that old wooden box back home, and I somehow never thought of trying the tall, shiny new phone that sat on the hall table.
Yet as I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me; often in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.
A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an hour or so between planes, and I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said,
"Information Please."
Miraculously, I heard again the small, clear voice I knew so well, "Information." I hadn't planned this but I heard myself saying, "Could you tell me please how-to spell fix?"
There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess that your finger must have healed by now. I laughed, "So it's really still you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time.
"I wonder, she said, if you know how much your calls meant to me. I never had any children, and I used to look forward to your calls.
I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.
"Please do, just ask for Sally."
Just three months later I was back in Seattle. . .A different voice answered Information and I asked for Sally.
"Are you a friend?"
"Yes, a very old friend."
"Then I'm sorry to have to tell you. Sally has been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago." But before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Paul?"
"Yes."
"Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down. Here it is. I'll read it: 'Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean'.
I thanked her and hung up. I did know what Sally meant.

Click her to view a wonderful Power Point Presentation.

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