Friday, September 15, 2006

On being twenty

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Diana and I are thinking seriously of promising each other that we will never marry but be nice old maids and live together forever. Diana hasn't quite made up her mind though, because she thinks perhaps it would be nobler to marry some wild, dashing, wicked young man and reform him. Diana and I talk a great deal about serious subjects now, you know. We feel that we are so much older than we used to be that it isn't becoming to talk of childish matters. It's such a solemn thing to be almost fourteen, Marilla. Miss Stacy took all us girls who are in our teens down to the brook last Wednesday, and talked to us about it. She said we couldn't be too careful what habits we formed and what ideals we acquired in our teens, because by the time we were twenty our characters would be developed and the foundation laid for our whole future life. And she said if the foundation was shaky we could never build anything really worth while on it. Diana and I talked the matter over coming home from school. We felt extremely solemn, Marilla. And we decided that we would try to be very careful indeed and form respectable habits and learn all we could and be as sensible as possible, so that by the time we were twenty our characters would be properly developed. It's perfectly appalling to think of being twenty, Marilla. It sounds so fearfully old and grown up."

from Anne of Green Gables, chapter 30

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Lady Catherine: Pray, what is your age?

Lizzy Bennet: With three younger sisters grown up, your ladyship can hardly expect me to own it.

Lady Catherine: Miss Bennet, you cannot be more than twenty, I am sure. Therefore there is no need to conceal your age!

Lizzy: I am not one and twenty.

Pride and Prejudice, A&E

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And the most-oft repeated remark to me about my being twenty, after hearing that it's my birthday and how old I am:

"Oh, I got married when I was twenty."

Yes, I know. *sigh* Thanks for reminding me of my old-maidenhood. : )

6 Comments:

Blogger Susan said...

I love that whole quote from Anne of Green Gables. It's wonderful :). My mom (and her mom) were both married at 20. Hehe. We're old maids, Jessie ;).

9/15/2006 1:32 PM  
Blogger une_fille_d'Ève said...

I was going to say that, but Susan already did... oh well, I'll say it anyway. :-) I love the quote from Anne of Green Gables! I can't help but smile when I read it.

9/15/2006 8:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, I forgot to say Happy Birthday before, so... happy birthday!

How was your day, anyway?

9/22/2006 9:44 PM  
Blogger Jessie said...

Hey all!
Thanks (very late) for your birthday wishes to me!
Yes Susan, now I've officially joined the club : ) Isn't it fun?!?

Hannah, glad you enjoyed the Anne quote too. I'd been thinking of it for days, in anticipation of when I could post it here, and thanks to the new movement to publish so many books online in e-formats, I was able to search through looking for the word "character", as it was the only exact word I knew was in the quote! I had the gist of it all, but I was only sure of that one word, and finally, there it was, same as ever. It's actually quite scary to think that the better part of my character is formed now (Assuming Miss Stacey was right). *whew* Poor y'all, you have to know me, with all of my defects, and yet I have now very little hope of improving myself ; ) he he. Good thing the Lord doesn't finish with us when we turn 20!!

John, thanks for your wishes, even though they are belated. Hey, it takes time to get here from Australia! Assuming you meant how was my birthday, as opposed to today, it was very nice : ) Today was too, but I don't think that was what you were asking. We didn't do anything particularly remarkable, but overall it was a fun and relaxing day. It may seem unexciting, but one thing I wanted to do was to take the last of the season's "Summer Strolls" in my local town. The shops stay open late a few evenings during the summer, and people are invited to walk around our small town and have a look around. Besides visiting my most-beloved Candy Factory, we got to see, once again, the famous local attraction, Pigs in the City (III). (I know you must all think I'm a redneck now, for sure!) Those of you from around the world may not know that Lexington is world-famous for its barbeque (that is, the style of meat itself; not the act of grilling, or cooking out, as some of my northern friends might say)... each year we have a BBQ Festival celebrating this fact. We actually call ourselves The Barbeque Capital of the World. (Betcha didn't know that in Australia! But remember, we're world-famous!! ; ) ) Thanks for asking.

A very merry unbirthday to you all!

9/22/2006 11:50 PM  
Blogger Jessie said...

BTW, what season is it now in Australia?? It's so weird to think of...
: )

9/22/2006 11:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's spring! Spring has sprung! This week we had our first day over 30 degrees here in Melbourne. (That's celsius, of course!)

Anyway, what you did sounds like the sort of thing that I enjoy doing on my birthday...

9/23/2006 12:29 AM  

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