Finding joy in Anne...

"I am well in body although considerably rumpled up in spirit, thank you, ma'am."

Ah yes, no one can tell it like it is quite like Anne Shirley... Anne (spelled with an e), otherwise known as Anne of Green Gables.

While in Italy this past summer, I met a lovely woman named Ann; she was from Oslo, Norway. When she found out I was from Canada, she immediately said: "Anne of Green Gables! This is my dream, one day, to go to Canada and visit Green Gables!!" I was struck with the intensity of her desire. I think she planted a seed... it would soon be time for me to rediscover the charm and exuberance of the little red-haired girl from PEI.

I picked up the book on the weekend and devoured it, almost as if for the first time. It truly is a laugh-out-loud kinda book, and as I began to read some of the familiar stories, I would giggle in anticipation of what I knew was to come. How can one forget Diana getting drunk on the "raspberry cordial"? Other long-forgotten stories came as a surprise and I took great delight in becoming reacquainted with them.

Next year is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables. Lucy Maud Montgomery's writing is timeless... as alive and colourful today as it was a century ago. If, like me, your copy of Anne has been gathering dust on a shelf somewhere, do yourself a big favour. Take it down, brush it off, grab a comfy blanket and settle down for a wonderful read.

Allow me to leave you with a sampling of my favourite phrases...

"There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting."

"Oh Marilla, I'm so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?"

"If you'll only call me Anne spelled with an e I shall try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia."

"I'm so glad my window looks east into the sunrising. (...) It's new every morning, and I feel as if I washed my very soul in that bath of earliest sunshine."

"Isn't it good just to be alive on a day like this? I pity the people who aren't born yet for missing it. They may have good days, of course, but they can never have this one."

Pace e bene,