Gratitude is the sign of noble souls ~ Aesop


Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving ~ Kahlil Gabran


Joy delights in joy ~ William Shakespeare


Thursday, February 25, 2010

Carrots!

For some reason, red-headed children always make me smile. Maybe it's something to do with the stubborn defiance of their genes, putting up a fight despite their recessive qualities and refusing to go quietly. Or maybe they just make me smile because they're so darn cute. From Opie to Pippi-longstalkings and Anne of Green Gables, I just can't help but equate red hair with spunk. And I like spunk.
It just so happens that I saw TWO carrot tops today. Completely unrelated which makes it even more fun. A double-header;) One was a little girl in my neighborhood. I was walking home when out popped her curly red ringlets as she bounded out of a mini van, wearing a pink backpack. Her little brother and mother followed her out of the car and up towards the house -- but she was the only one who turned and said hi to me when I walked past. Her smile was contagious and I found I was still grinning by the end of the block despite the tug of war I was playing with both my dogs as they pulled like they were trying to win the Iditarod.
The other kid I saw today was a boy, jogging after school in Pasadena with his fellow students, all in their standard-issue gym uniforms. The rest of his classmates looked like a single miserable mass, huffing and puffing down the sidewalk...but not this red-headed kid running out in front of the pack, he stood out. With every street sign he would run past, he would jump up and hit it, then land with a smile, some sort of small little victory in his mind. And I thought it was pretty neat how he made a game out of it...how he managed to find the joy in the mundane. Quite resourceful. Like Anne making friends with her "looking glass" self when there were no real friends to be made.
Anyway, I guess I'm thankful for red-heads and the reminder they are to me that the odds can be beaten, in a harsh world where nature is doing all it can to weed them out, they prevail, the little trouble-makers. And I hope I never lose my inner trouble-maker:)

2 comments:

  1. So true! Why is it that those fictional redheaded Anne and Annie's are so lovable? That wonderful blend of defiance and uniqueness. And my friend Anna, what an appropriate name :)

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  2. Fine! I can take a hint! I'll dye my hair red after pilot season is over....

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