Affirmation from old College friend

She wrote this one day, I copied it, and thought it might be nice to have around for future thoughts:

It has happened before and it just happened again:
Have been stressing about a meeting for months. What will they say? What will I say? What will happen? Every scenario in my head EXCEPT-
Things will work out nicely and everything will be OK.
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT OCCURRED.

This leads me to question why I (and others) add this negative, self imposed, soul sucking stress to an otherwise blessed life? I am going to remember this mantra and try to apply it to my next stressful situation: "I am a good person who always tries my best. It should be enough for everyone around me. If not, so what?"

Now, say it with me and repeat when you too are feeling uncertain.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I never had this in high school or college, so this is the first time I've read it. I was telling immemor that, when I've seen bits & pieces of it televised I always thought the way that the character of Huckeberry Finn spoke was an affectation on the part of the producers. I had no idea that it was part of the writing style that Mark Twain used for the character.

And I knew the book, in part, has him going down the Mississippi River, but I didn't realize it takes him a while to get there & meet up with Jim. And get away from his horrible, horrible, dick-y father who I wanted to punch in the face.

So: that's what it means to read an American classic (and staple of high school classes) without knowing much about it (at least it wasn't as confusing as when I saw The Tempest).