"he smiled understandingly-much more than understandably. it was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. it faced-- or seemed to face-- the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistable prejudice in your favor. it understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as much as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey."
--the great gatsby

35 degrees and raining in Pinehurst... i'm snuggled up in bed reading old books with my fingers crossed that we get a few of those snow flurries that other parts of north carolina are excited about.