The International Writers Magazine: Lifestyles

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Verve is a Verb • Margaret Manning ...now its time to start living like a VERB

I absolutely love the word "verve".
Vigor, Spirit, Style, denoting special talent in writing. I came across the word a few years ago for the first time when a very dear friend of mine attended the funeral of one of the nameless people who were on the flight that was turned into a weapon of attack against the Pentagon on September 11. This lady, who had worked for the National Geographic for years, was taking a group of young schoolchildren on a cultural trip. Just another one of those tragic stories that never surfaced to the level of press attention. Just another sad loss of a brave women and some little children. Anyway, I guess at her funeral, most of the Geographic staff were there, and one person got up and said "It's typical of Jane (not real name) that she would bow out this way in order not to have to deal with her 40th birthday! She was a woman with passion and verve".

Verve. A word that is one I'd like to have read at my funeral. That along with compassion, gutsy, loving, passionate, classy, stylist, truthful and curious. Verve is actually defined by the dictionary as a noun, but I feel it is a verb. It is an action word that finds its expression in acting out the qualities it embodies....vigour, spirit and style. In my life so far, I have focused on being nouns...mother, wife, friend, worker, helper and now its time to start living like a VERB.

The second half of my life, as I embark on my journey around the world will be one heavy on the action words, those descriptions of myself that tell something of my energy, enthusiasm and excitement about the vitality of the precious gift of life...not the static, bounded descriptions of what my inner organizer says a woman or wife or mother embodies. I am active. I am like the wind. There is no moment that I am only a noun. I am a verb. A new website www.exinthecity.com is my latest venture - helping women move from "EX" to EXtraordinary! as they redefine their lives after the breakup of a relationship. Share your journey ~ come visit!

© Magaret Manning June 2004
margaretmanning@hotmail.com
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