I love this book.  Just thinking about this.  Enjoy!

…It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dream would have no meaning.

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I was babysitting last night and I picked out this story to read to my small, sleepy friend.  I received this book as a gift upon graduating from YCHS, you know, a few years ago.  It’s at home in York, PA and I’m pretty sure I know where it is.  I think I only read it once.  I probably tossed it aside thinking I knew everything (I did know everything back then, ask my mom and my sister) saying, “Oh, the places I’ll go! Dr. Seuss has some advice!” Well friends, turns out the Doc knows a thing or two about life and the passage below made me smile last night. This little guy has  his whole life ahead of him.  And so do I.  I’ll meet you where the Boom Bands are playing!

Excerpt from Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…

…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.