Pollyanna

I remember reading the book Pollyanna by Eleanore H. Porter when I was a young girl.

The orphan Pollyanna is sent to live with her austere and pessimistic aunt, who hopes that putting the little girl in a barren attic room will not disrupt the quiet everyday routines of her household.

But the happy and cheerful girl will do much more than disrupt her aunt schedule. She will not only turn her aunt's world upside down, but have an influence on the whole town as well.

Pollyanna plays the glad game - and she is good at it.

The story has had such an effect on people that a syndrome called the Pollyanna Principle or Pollyanaism was created in 1978 and describes the infectious optimism and tendency to agree with positivism. The classic book about the resourceful and courageous Pollyanna has been rated five stars and is well loved.

"Oh, but Aunt Polly, Aunt Polly, you haven't left me any time at all just to—to live."

"To live, child! What do you mean? As if you weren't living all the time!"

"Oh, of course I'd be BREATHING all the time I was doing those things, Aunt Polly, but I wouldn't be living. You breathe all the time you're asleep, but you aren't living. I mean living—doing the things you want to do: playing outdoors, reading (to myself, of course), climbing hills, talking to Mr. Tom in the garden, and Nancy, and finding out all about the houses and the people and everything everywhere all through the perfectly lovely streets I came through yesterday. That's what I call living, Aunt Polly. Just breathing isn't living!"

(Quote from "Pollyanna" by Eleanor H. Porter) 

Sometimes I long for my childhood, having my parents there, being under their loving care, and reading fun books like Pollyanna. But I can still read those books. And better yet, I have read good books to my children as they were growing up and now I can read to my grandchildren.

Today's photo is a Pollyanna book cover and a water color called "Shelter Before the Storm".