Monday, February 9, 2026

Monday, February 9, 2026

Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2004. Mattie was almost two years old. I snapped this photo because Mattie was jumping on the couch like a trampoline. When I was his age.... I LOVED doing this too. Except I remember my grandmother and mom telling me to stop, as they were afraid I would literally break the bed and furniture. Since I knew how much I loved doing this, I did not stop Mattie. My concerns however was always his safety. So I did my best to make sure Mattie wasn't going to fall. I watched Mattie like a hawk, and yet there was NOT ENOUGH HOVERING and SWOOPING I could do to prevent him from being diagnosed with childhood cancer. 

Quote of the day: All human wisdom is contained in these two words - Wait and Hope. ~ Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Last night, after I got my parents into bed, I went to my room, Indie of course was in tow, and together we watched the Hallmark Movie, The Way to You. The premise of the movie is................After a subway blackout in New York City, Emma and Conrad connect and decide to help one another find the people they missed connections with, only to discover their own connection may be stronger.

It was a charming movie and within the movie, one of the characters loved the book, The Count of Monte Cristo. The other character had never read it, so she decided to read it and the famous quote from the book was shared with the audience. It is the quote I posted tonight. Two powerful words.... wait and hope. Without understanding the context in which Alexandre Dumas wrote this famous line, you maybe left to your own interpretation as to why these two words are so meaningful. Certainly in any context we find ourselves..... don't we want to wait and hope!? It is like two bookends to any problem! When there are no easy answers, when we are at our wit's end and unsure how to proceed.... many of us wait. We give it time, with the HOPE that things change or solutions present themselves. This of course is a valuable message in and of itself. 

But when Dumas wrote about wait and hope in his book, he had a very specific context in mind..... vengeance and revenge. Specifically, Dumas has Monte Cristo acknowledge that God is the only one who can act as Providence, the only force that can hand out people’s fates. Humans, rather than taking God’s task into their own hands, ought to simply “wait and hope” that God does indeed eventually reward the good and punish the bad.

To me, understanding the context of this quote is very poignant. As humans, when we feel violated, harmed, or wronged, our instinct is to PROTECT ourselves and seek revenge. I think this is a natural reaction and present in many of us initially after being hurt. Certainly many people take revenge into their own hands.... just turn on the news any given day. But ultimately seeking revenge means you are stooping to the level of your perpetrator. This will NEVER be me, or let's put it this way, I have a stronger moral compass that guides me and like Monte Cristo reveals in Dumas' book..... I believe God sees everything and is the ultimate decision maker. So in some cases, I leave my anger, pain, and disgust in God's hands. 

When your heart has been broken, when you have given trust away and that trust has been betrayed, it impacts every aspect of your life. It definitely affects how I see and trust others, it makes me more cautious, and I find I am safer alone, locking out others and the chances of such horrors ever happening again. This maybe why I watch Hallmark movies. In these movies...... couples communicate, they share emotions, they share truths, there is commitment, and commitment means something, they find common ground, and THEY ALWAYS LAND UP TOGETHER. There are no unhappy endings with Hallmark, and in a world in which we have countless unhappy moments, it is refreshing to take a pause from hurt.