Gratitude Friday 01 17 25 A.A. Milne Day

Winne the Pooh was one of the series of books I learned to read from as a child. I can recall my mom and dad reading to me at bedtime before I was literate. I even had a Tigger stuffed toy. It seems worth celebrating in this little corner of the internet that 143 years ago today, author and illustrator, A.A. Milne, was born in 1882, in London, England.  The connection to Gratitude Friday as I have mentioned over the years is that this writing is my exercise to keep my inner Eeyore voice in check, a thing I need to practice with regularity. So today, I thought I would find and post some gem quotes from A.A. Milne, if we do not pass until after our last thought or action was remembered, A.A Milne lives on.

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

“Friendship," said Christopher Robin, "is a very comforting thing to have.”

“If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

“The things that make me different are the things that make me.”

“I don’t feel very much like Pooh today," said Pooh. There there," said Piglet. "I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.”

“A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.”

"You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think,"

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart,"

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?”

“But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.”

"Oh, bother," "A hug is always the right size,"

"I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost."

“You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

“Some people care too much. I think it's called love.”

“Piglet had got up early that morning to pick himself a bunch of violets; and when he had picked them and put them in a pot in the middle of his house, it suddenly came over him that nobody had ever picked Eeyore a bunch of violets, and the more he thought of this, the more he thought how sad it was to be an animal who had never had a bunch of violets picked for him.”

“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.''

"Always together. Never apart. Maybe in distance. But never by heart."

“And by and by Christopher Robin came to the end of things, and he was silent, and he sat there, looking out over the world, just wishing it wouldn't stop.”

Spending a moment considering what these quotes mean to me and finding that they still resonate, although in ways far different than when I was a toddler. I consider the era of having the lines read to me for the first time as I started learning about the world and my own hundred-acre wood. The themes are simple. The value of friendship, being brave when facing difficulty, showing compassion for others and expressing gratitude. Timeless and simple concepts for complex creatures. There is also a theme of time and change as young Christopher Robbins grows up and leaves the hundred-acre wood, which captures some of the bittersweet essence of change in life. Grateful for the memories of reading these stories, for the writings of Milne and how the quotes endure over time. 

What are you grateful for today?