Written By Vanora
Aug. 1, 2019, 12:27 a.m.(7/25/1011 AR)
My little loves,
Memories are passed down in many ways, your father excels at letters, I prefer songs. There are dozens of other means if not more though, drawings, poems, clippings...
For you today, I leave thirteen thoughts on family.
1) Family is created by blood, held by the bonds of kinship, circumstances of birth.
2) Family is created by loyalty, by love, by shared common experience, it is a choice.
3) Family centers around the Matriarch, the woman who has seen the most of them raised, who has the most wisdom about love and loss and strength, who has earned their respect.
4) Family centers around the Patriarch, the man who has seen the most of them raised, who has the most wisdom about loss and strength and love, who has earned their respect.
5) Family centers around the eldest, They are the family's future, the to look to to know their hard work worth it.
6) Family centers around the youngest, for they must be loved and cared for and nurtured by all of the others.
7) Family centers most around the departed. It was they who set the tone for all that followed.
8) Family centers most on the generations yet to come, whose world we have not even begun to imagine.
9) Family is linked to place, without culture and history it could not be.
10) Family is independent of place, culture, or language. It is constant.
11) Family, being tied to emotions, is often fickle and inconstant
12) Family is where your parents eventually yield the ground of your thoughts to your spouse, and your spouse to your children.
13) Families can be crowded and lonely, heartbreaking and beautiful, all in the same moment.
At least once in my life I have sincerely believed in each of these thoughts. If there is a lesson in that, let it be that your view of the world will constantly be changing, even that it is expected to.
Love,
Your Mother
Memories are passed down in many ways, your father excels at letters, I prefer songs. There are dozens of other means if not more though, drawings, poems, clippings...
For you today, I leave thirteen thoughts on family.
1) Family is created by blood, held by the bonds of kinship, circumstances of birth.
2) Family is created by loyalty, by love, by shared common experience, it is a choice.
3) Family centers around the Matriarch, the woman who has seen the most of them raised, who has the most wisdom about love and loss and strength, who has earned their respect.
4) Family centers around the Patriarch, the man who has seen the most of them raised, who has the most wisdom about loss and strength and love, who has earned their respect.
5) Family centers around the eldest, They are the family's future, the to look to to know their hard work worth it.
6) Family centers around the youngest, for they must be loved and cared for and nurtured by all of the others.
7) Family centers most around the departed. It was they who set the tone for all that followed.
8) Family centers most on the generations yet to come, whose world we have not even begun to imagine.
9) Family is linked to place, without culture and history it could not be.
10) Family is independent of place, culture, or language. It is constant.
11) Family, being tied to emotions, is often fickle and inconstant
12) Family is where your parents eventually yield the ground of your thoughts to your spouse, and your spouse to your children.
13) Families can be crowded and lonely, heartbreaking and beautiful, all in the same moment.
At least once in my life I have sincerely believed in each of these thoughts. If there is a lesson in that, let it be that your view of the world will constantly be changing, even that it is expected to.
Love,
Your Mother
Written By Vanora
July 30, 2019, 1:04 a.m.(7/21/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Cassima
Of course you are more than welcome! For all that you are doing to provide economic assistance during this particularly tumultuous time we are beyond grateful and thus would deny you little.
That and I do enjoy having the feeling of a full house. There are always the others occupying it too, the footsteps that sound just like his but they aren't there when you turn your head...the time you could swear you hear him laughing, or feel him smiling.
He'd be happy to have you here as well, he is the one who taught me to love a full house.
That and I do enjoy having the feeling of a full house. There are always the others occupying it too, the footsteps that sound just like his but they aren't there when you turn your head...the time you could swear you hear him laughing, or feel him smiling.
He'd be happy to have you here as well, he is the one who taught me to love a full house.
Written By Vanora
July 26, 2019, 6:06 p.m.(7/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Jasher
Yet another example, Prince Jasher Thrax is one who has surprised me recently. There is knowledge everywhere in every direction, and if we only know where to look, who to know...we find so much.
Written By Vanora
July 22, 2019, 1:52 p.m.(7/6/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Celeste
Those are good lessons to remember. I recall them in the same way from my own studies in Lenosia, along with others.
Mirrormasks, when fully trained, are taught to question, even if what they question is an established norm, even if the nature of their questions leads others to anger or frustration.
Before we are taught to question though, we are taught to listen. If our questions serve no other purpose than to antagonize, if we do not seek answers from them from which we might learn, then they are pure contrarianism. That too has a place in Mirrormask teachings, but it is a different one, and best practiced by those with experience and the social savvy to know when they push another towards learning, and when they simply push.
We listen to better understand the world around us, the people around us, and ourselves.
The idea that striving to know ourselves better and thus become better is one of Tehom's teachings that benefit all, not only his Disciples. Self-reflection is not soft, it is not 'bright', it is not easy or comfortable. An honest accounting of our flaws is always a painful thing to reckon with, which is why it is so easy to slip into denial of them and complacency. It is a far, far easier thing to turn focus outward onto others, to consider /their/ flaws, and the righteous feeling that we bask in when we see a flaw in another that we do not believe we have ourselves is delicious. Delicious and as addictive as Dust.
Mirrormasks, when fully trained, are taught to question, even if what they question is an established norm, even if the nature of their questions leads others to anger or frustration.
Before we are taught to question though, we are taught to listen. If our questions serve no other purpose than to antagonize, if we do not seek answers from them from which we might learn, then they are pure contrarianism. That too has a place in Mirrormask teachings, but it is a different one, and best practiced by those with experience and the social savvy to know when they push another towards learning, and when they simply push.
We listen to better understand the world around us, the people around us, and ourselves.
The idea that striving to know ourselves better and thus become better is one of Tehom's teachings that benefit all, not only his Disciples. Self-reflection is not soft, it is not 'bright', it is not easy or comfortable. An honest accounting of our flaws is always a painful thing to reckon with, which is why it is so easy to slip into denial of them and complacency. It is a far, far easier thing to turn focus outward onto others, to consider /their/ flaws, and the righteous feeling that we bask in when we see a flaw in another that we do not believe we have ourselves is delicious. Delicious and as addictive as Dust.
Written By Vanora
July 19, 2019, 11:16 p.m.(7/1/1011 AR)
For never did a weapon make men feel braver than the pen.
Written By Vanora
July 19, 2019, 1:50 p.m.(6/28/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Cassima
I am truly fortunate to have a friend as kind and supportive as you are, Highness.
I never take such a thing for granted.
I never take such a thing for granted.
Written By Vanora
July 12, 2019, 9:48 p.m.(6/14/1011 AR)
I am still recovering from Uncle Niccolo's death, though it is easier to mourn a man who has lived a full life than kin or friends who never had the opportunity. Still the world looks entirely different without him, he was such a fixture. From the time I was a little girl, Niccolo and Carlotta treated me as their own, and in their joy provided a beacon for what life could be like. In his sadness and loss, my Uncle did the same, for life can be like this too.
Written By Vanora
June 28, 2019, 12:26 a.m.(5/12/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Sudara
You are silly and delightful. As if I'd think my married-rank makes my time more valuable than that of the Truespeaker.
I love you the most.
I love you the most.
Written By Vanora
June 27, 2019, 9:33 p.m.(5/12/1011 AR)
I dearly wish that I had been able to attend the event in the new Lily garden that Petal has created. I'm sure it was wonderful, and I expect I will find myself there too in my own time.
Written By Vanora
June 24, 2019, 11:52 p.m.(5/6/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Gianna
To say that the Nightingale and I have become fast friends is almost to downplay the situation. I see parts of myself reflected back at me, yet there are no mirrors needed.
Written By Vanora
June 24, 2019, 1:25 a.m.(5/5/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Cambria
Agreed in full! Not only that, but when that delicious feeling of self-righteousness is shared with other people...we feel so much closer to them. Bonding through our gossip and agreeing we are superior to those whom we are deriding. So comfortable, so easy....and why scandals are so very popular. I do not look fondly on the time when I was the scandal of the season and yet it is likely the most joy I have ever provided to so large a group of my peers.
Written By Vanora
June 22, 2019, 5:54 p.m.(5/2/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
You must feel so if you responded to me in the whites to tell me. It is lovely to have good friends that you can trust. I wish I'd appreciated mine more, spent more time with her, before it was too late.
Written By Vanora
June 21, 2019, 10:51 p.m.(4/28/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Reese
I had a fabulous drink and an even better conversation with Princess Reese this morning.
Since then, I've seen only more evidence of what we discussed, Highness.
And it is such a shame.
Since then, I've seen only more evidence of what we discussed, Highness.
And it is such a shame.
Written By Vanora
June 1, 2019, 8:54 p.m.(3/16/1011 AR)
For the Unmarked Graves
The star-filled sky looms o'er sea
Night cools the sun-warmed shores now
On this beach please do bury me
To return to her my vow
Dig the grave in the soft sand
Leave my blood and bones in deep
Twas not the death that I had planned
Yet I beg, don't let her weep
I am at peace, for me don't fret
Some songs to remember, some songs to forget
The star-filled sky looms o'er sea
Night cools the sun-warmed shores now
On this beach please do bury me
To return to her my vow
Dig the grave in the soft sand
Leave my blood and bones in deep
Twas not the death that I had planned
Yet I beg, don't let her weep
I am at peace, for me don't fret
Some songs to remember, some songs to forget
Written By Vanora
May 31, 2019, 11:21 p.m.(3/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Scythia
House Grimhall is eternally grateful to the tireless work of Lady Scythia Redreef towards maintaining diplomacy among the traditionalists of the Isles.
Written By Vanora
May 24, 2019, 6:29 p.m.(2/28/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Margot
A cup of tea and good conversation are the perfect way to pass a winter's afternoon.
Written By Vanora
May 6, 2019, 11:32 p.m.(1/21/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Octavia
The meeting the Duke and I held with Marquessa Kennex was in her capacity as a legal expert, not a vassal. Yet I found her a pleasure to talk to and to work with, and I think that Grimhall will benefit greatly from her good advice, which can only make things better for everyone.
Written By Vanora
May 5, 2019, 10:44 p.m.(1/18/1011 AR)
There are few I know as skilled as the Mirrormasks in refining ones patience, in honing it into a skill rather than a setback.
Written By Vanora
May 3, 2019, 4:40 p.m.(1/14/1011 AR)
The last few days...weeks maybe, have not been what I expected. I've met some wonderfully new interesting people who I hope can be part of this dream I want to build.
But dreaming, jotting down notes and ideas, imagining a beautiful future right out of reach, and then an even more beautiful one that would require some effort. Effort has never been an issue for me, I work hard and always have, it was the only way to get ahead as a youth.
Patience though, that I am sometimes excellent with and sometimes needs practice. I will endeavor to practice extensively.
I also will try harder not to allow my confusion to encourage making assumptions or jumping to conclusions, as a friendly acquaintance recently suggested, not in so many words.
But dreaming, jotting down notes and ideas, imagining a beautiful future right out of reach, and then an even more beautiful one that would require some effort. Effort has never been an issue for me, I work hard and always have, it was the only way to get ahead as a youth.
Patience though, that I am sometimes excellent with and sometimes needs practice. I will endeavor to practice extensively.
I also will try harder not to allow my confusion to encourage making assumptions or jumping to conclusions, as a friendly acquaintance recently suggested, not in so many words.
Written By Vanora
April 28, 2019, 8:30 p.m.(1/4/1011 AR)
How can they all be gone?
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.