Wise Women

Leslie Belser lent me a sweet little book encapsulating the thoughts of Oseola McCarty, Simple Wisdom for Rich Living. Ms. McCarty is the woman who saved enough from her earnings doing laundry to endow a scholarship at the University of Southern Mississippi. Here are just a few I liked:

There is a lot of talk about self-esteem these days. It seems pretty basic to me. If you want to feel proud of yourself, you've got to do things you can be proud of. Feelings follow actions.

Young people should find something they're good at. They need to practice to build skills and to keep their minds busy. I think working hard give them an important feeling of accomplishment.

I still have lots of learning to do. I am supposed to take a computer class at the university. I visited one class. I had so much fun. Everybody was laughing, talking, and showing each other how to do new things. I felt like a child again.

Ms. Hill and Mrs. Belser spend a lot of time at Cave9 because they want to give their children the opportunity to immerse themselves in learning and playing music. Around 5:30, I can hear Mrs. Belser calling to Matthew, 'Just 5 more minutes!' Invariably, they are walking out the door only when all the instruments are packed in the car so that Matthew has nothing to play. He usually negotiates to take an instrument home for the week, so he and his mom have to haul all of his own instruments plus a guitar or violin.

Ms. Hill brings her grandchildren. AnLeia cannot get enough, soaking up everything offered on multiple instruments. Brian has an interest in just three instruments, so after a couple of hours of lessons, he waits for AnLeia, too. Yesterday I asked him if he was interested in teaching beginning strings. He brightened and sat up in eagerness. At Nick's urging, Brian gave Mrs. Belser a violin lesson, which they both seemed to enjoy.