Fortunes

Even though we'll be eating a lot of Chinese food in China, that hasn't stopped us from craving it while we wait. Here are some of the recent fortunes we've gotten this summer (and, yeah, I know fortune cookies are not Chinese):

“To be eighty years young is more cheerful and hopeful than forty years old.” – I got this one and I just turned forty. Does it imply that forty-year-olds are not cheerful and hopeful? I like to think I’m cheerful and hopeful at forty. I hope.

“The simplest answer is to act.” – Don got this one. Seems appropriate to our current situation, and reminds me of Don’s favorite scripture about “acting” and not letting ourselves be “acted upon”. In other words, we can make our own choices, we control our reactions.

“You will soon be crossing great waters.” – Another one of mine. I laughed really hard when I got it.

“Sometimes travel to new places leads to great transformation.” – John got this fortune. We were all happy he got it because he has the strongest reservations about our move to China. I’m not sure it helped.

“Your happy heart brings joy and peace where there is none.” – This one is mine. See, I am cheerful!

“Consider gain and loss, but never be greedy and everything will be all right.” – Not sure who got this one, but, wow, does this seem to apply to us right now. And, yeah, I think everything’s gonna be alright.

“Success is a journey not a destination.” – I think this was Allyne’s. Couldn’t agree more.

“Try your best to avoid arguing with your elders and superiors.” – This was Emma’s, and wow, did we laugh hard. Not ten minutes later she was arguing with Don, so I said, “Emma, what happened to the fortune?” She replied, “Mom, it just said ‘try’.”

“Past experience: He who never makes mistakes, never did anything that’s worthy.” – This is similar to something I’ve been saying to my perfectionist kids for years, and, more recently, I've been saying it about our move. One reason we are moving to China is Allyne really hasn’t liked her high school experience. Allyne asked me once, “Mom, what if we move and it isn’t better?” I told her, “Well, we can stay here for more of the same, or we can make a change and see if it works out. If we go, at least we’ll know that we tried.”

“Keep it simple: The more you say, the less people remember.” – Amen.