Writings by Catherine Babbitt
I hear my oldest son playing piano, a new song he’s learned that he renders with little effort. His fingers grace the piano keys as if he’s played before, but he hasn’t. I’m amazed at his talent and intuitiveness. My other son sleeps, having turned in at 8:30. Turning in early makes sense, since he…
A man can get discouraged many times but he is not a failure until he begins to blame somebody else and stops trying. – John Burroughs In this life, I’ve had numerous times where discouragement supplanted all thoughts of trudging forward, and I found myself wallowing in the failure of who I thought I was….
Another writer found, though this one has published multiple times and has won awards. I found his short story in The Threepenny Review and enjoyed it immensely. I remember reading about the fear of being buried alive, because sometimes people were, and both, family and buried-person, would take fright. Sometimes the buried-person wouldn’t make it out…
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important….
Searching for other writers is always a joy. The hope of stumbling across someone’s words that can instill in me a feeling other than what I’m feeling is magical. Off chance, I clicked on The Moth Magazine, and was drooling over their retreat, which is in a beautiful location outside of Cavan Town in Ireland….
You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however. – Richard Bach Is this true? Am I given what I need to accomplish whatever dream rattles my bones and compels me to push forward? Some days I believe that and…
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. – Ralph Waldo Emerson Continuously throughout my life journey, I have bumped up against “owning” myself as I am, in all my entirety. I have vacillated between puffing myself up or suffocating myself, all to the…
We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world. – Helen Keller Feelings are a package deal, not an a la carte to pick and choose from. Each feeling allows another its expression. Just as the sun rises so must it set and allow the moon to…
Love does not dominate; it cultivates. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe A breeze oscillates in the trees, moving leaf and branch, changing the formation of shade upon the ground. The air is cool against my skin where the sun is absent, and I ponder what’s lost. Love certainly isn’t. People sometimes are. Situations. Dreams. Jobs….
I sat with a friend a few days ago, me drinking an Americano and her a chai, and discussed our lives and perceptions. We’ve changed over the years, a little wiser, possibly a little smarter, but definitely happier. We touched on spirituality and what that means, our families and loved ones. As we dug further…
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. – Nelson Mandela I woke this morning to a bramble of thoughts. Some of those thoughts were encouraging, others weren’t, and I feared the less encouraging thoughts would overpower the positive ones, which could make for an unpleasant day. To move from fear to hope is…
Sometimes I struggle with my invisibility cloak. I lay it over my shoulders and submerge under its supposed warmth and protection. I soon languish there, hidden and alone. My depiction sounds dramatic and seedy, like an old bar that’s never seen a bucket of sudsy water and a mop, but my description is more of…
