It's a Wonderful Life

About the only thing I have been able to check off my traditional Christmas list of things I like to do by this day just two weeks before Christmas, is to watch It's a Wonderful Life. I viewed it on the big screen for the very first time while in Utah. (Dane and Brittany projected it on the wall for me.) I love how watching this movie always changes my perspective for a time. I ponder on those around me whom I love and try to imagine my life without them. That always hurts. Then I wonder, "Have I made a true difference in the lives of anyone with whom I have interacted?" This usually leads to, "Have I lived thus far the life that I want to live?"

While in Utah I viewed the newest exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art, "The Weir Family 1820 - 1920." It was wonderful and brought me back to David McCullough's latest book and how travel abroad influenced the shaping of American culture in the 1800's. I always read all the little plaques on the wall next to the art work. This quote by Charles Erskine Scott Wood, a Weir family friend, about Julian Alden Weir, touched me so deeply that I had to write it down on the exhibit brochure so that I might remember it. Perhaps it best summarizes what it means to live a wonderful life.

"I. . . insist that you (Julian) are the most fortunate man I know. Enough to keep the wolf from the door, a clear conscience to keep ghosts from the window, loving and lovely children, a sympathetic wife, an occupation which is always coaxing you, not driving you."