So we lost a family member about two weeks ago – the husband of my cousin. He was just short of his 49th birthday and left a loving wife and daughter. They are heartbroken. This tragic turn got me going through my little “quote book” – as its name suggests, a book where I write down quotes and lines of poetry that I like. I found a couple I wanted to share, both having to do with the randomness of luck and life, and always the joy and wonder of it.

From John Steinbeck:

But I do feel strange – almost unearthly. I’ll never get used to being alive. It’s a mystery. Always startled to find I’ve survived.

From Jhumpa Lahiri:

Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.