{"author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney","total_quotes":33,"quotes":[{"text":"And the shower of roses spun around me, inviting me to take part in their ever-present waltz.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["meaning","rose","roses","shower-of-roses"],"id":16575,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"The starry night sky echoed across my thoughts, the expanse of my own void filtered in its quiet solitude.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["night","starry-night","stars"],"id":19467,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"I would travel far and wide...Seeing, listening, creating. I would weave tales for an enthralled audience. A song would be heard throughout the kingdom, and I would be a part of that. You would normally think that a bard would pick up his tales from stories heard in his travels or, perhaps, from personal observation of these events. Perhaps some bards would create the stories themselves or, at least, adapt the original versions heard... But what if the bard were really more than a bard? What if he were once a gallant knight or an old sea captain...Perhaps even a forgotten prince? What if the stories he told, what if the characters brought to life in his stories, were really of his comrades and himself? Stories from long ago that he finally wished to be heard? What if those who listened to his tales, all the while assuming that they were far disconnected from their communicator, were really listening to the narrative of a wanderer intimately connected to it all? And where would such an individual go when his final days as an “official” bard were spent? Perhaps he would decide to retire in a lighthouse. For, surely, no place would be more fitting for the hero emeritus. He would gaze upon the glorious sea in recollection...Guiding others with the beacon of light atop his home as he had once been shepherded. The adventurer became the storyteller...And then the Sentinel of the Sea.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["bard","hero","lighthouse","ocean","prince","sea","sea-captain","story","storyteller","storytelling"],"id":40648,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"The luminescent flow of a sunbathed garden— illuminating the shifting colors of its inhabitants— echoed in my memory as I opened the antique bookstore door in the shaft of window light. The books, like the flowers of the garden, awaited me with the thrill of a new mystery.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["bookstore","mystery"],"id":47316,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"Battle scars were not a commodity that I was accustomed to selling, least of all to myself.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["battle"],"id":51870,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"You were...Are...What I heard. Every note.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["relationships","understanding","understanding-oneself-and-others"],"id":82956,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"There is a host of angels surrounding you, Rebecca. Not figuratively. Literally. With wings spread far to encompass you, protect you with their Light. Remember that they are with you—see them with your heart and soul—whenever you are forced to engage in battle with forces that seek and have become, through their own will, evil.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["angels","good-vs-evil","light"],"id":112024,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"The college bookstore was a splash of life, culture, and society. As a psychology student, I often found myself intrigued by the behavior, ways of thinking and feeling, and general schemata of others, and this was the perfect spot to engage my senses.Other times, I was just annoyed.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["psychology","student"],"id":114467,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"Maturity is so often considered to be synonymous with ‘adult.’ But I truly feel that maturity may be defined by the ability to be both an adult and a child.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["maturity"],"id":145215,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"},{"text":"Knowledge can be powerful. But it can only be beautiful if there is more to it. If it is guided by something greater than the simple desire to enhance the potency of the mind.","author":"Gina Marinello-Sweeney","tags":["beautiful","humanity","knowledge","truth"],"id":164320,"author_id":"Gina+Marinello-Sweeney"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":33,"pages":4,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}