The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. ~M. Scott Peck
“What do you want to do this weekend?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“I want to sit here in the sun and read my book.”
“That’s something.”
“Yeah, it is isn’t it?”
Last week a friend asked me what I had been reading this winter. Maybe it’s age (or lack of sunlight) but I could only think of a couple of titles. So I went and took a peek at my booksheves to refresh my memory. My book club read The Known World (didn’t like it, too many characters and timeline flip-flops for my currently ADDish brain), Middlesex (a family epic deftly written and based here in the Detroit area), Eat, Pray, Love (a joy) and next up for us is The Pillars of the Earth. Hmm, I think those are all Oprah books, we don’t always read off her list but lately that seems to be the case. On my personal reading list was I Love You Beth Cooper (very funny writer, but the high school setting got old, or maybe I’m just old), Those Who Save Us (good mother/daughter relationship read), The Alchemist (a lovely little spiritual fable), The Painted Drum (if you appreciate lyrical writing like I do you’ll like this one). In the photo I’m reading The Camino (fascinating if you have an open mind), I enjoyed They Did It with Love (a lightweight murder mystery about a mystery book club) and the short stories in Alice Munro’s Runaway were wonderful. I read a couple from Jackie Mitchard recently, Cage of Stars (my fave of the two) and Still Summer (a high seas adventure that explores the nature of friendship). Jackie not only seamlessly weaves stories laced with heartbreaking characters and suspenseful plots, but she is an author who has always been generous and gracious to her fans. Click on her name and check out her fabulous website!
The holidays always slow down my page turning ways, plus I’m making an effort to finish my third book which means less time reading and more time writing. Those of you who voted for my #2 novel excerpt on Amazon, thank you, thank you, thank you! I didn’t make the final cut but it was encouraging to enter my first contest and garner a few of my own fans along the way:)
As I read yet another book review of a memoir this weekend, my husband told me that I should write one. I said that my story would be much too short and rather boring so when I ran across the following book I decided it was just my speed. A six word memoir! Written by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure is a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were- For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. There’s a video on Amazon with examples from the book, it sounds like a fun read! I’d like to start a six word memoir meme and here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4 .Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!
It was actually a lot more difficult that I thought it would be, but here’s mine…
This too shall pass, I hope.
I tag Melynn at Breathing Easy, Sandy at My Inner Edge, Lisa at Books on the Brain, Janie at Ragamuffins, and Fighting Windmills.
If you haven’t been tagged but would like to participate go ahead and copy and paste this post to initiate your own string of the game, or post a comment with your 6 word memoir and I’ll post them later:)
**Blonde Momentos added a link to Smith Magazine on her memoir post where you can go and leave your memoir, they are collecting them for book #2!
I’ve been at it again, which one do you like best?
The soul at its highest is found like God, but an angel gives a closer idea of Him. That is all an angel is: an idea of God. ~Meister Eckhart
I know, I know, that picture is totally tacky, maybe even a little juvenile (okay, definitely juvenile) but I don’t care because it was fun to make! That’s me and my hubby last March on the beach in Carlsbad, California. We haven’t been on vacation since and we are getting the bug to bug out of Michigan once more. It snowed again yesterday, five more inches on top of a layer of slick ice, poor Mr. bookbabie slipped twice while snowblowing the driveway. It’s been a tough winter around here. This will be one of those springs where the entire state will wander outdoors on the first bright fifty-degree day without any coats on. We’ll all be grinning like fools as we tip our pale faces up toward the sun, our molelike eyes barely able to open against the glare, our hearts grateful to be putting another winter behind us (overwritten, but oh so true!). Today however, I am simply grateful for my partner. We’ve been through a lot together. You can’t be married for nearly thirty years without sharing a bucketful of joy and a few tears too. Happy Valentine’s Day my love!
If you and your sweetie have a stash of old love letters, my blogging buddy Bev can bind them into a handmade book for you, très romantique! She has a storefront on Etsy, a fabulous online place to shop for handmade gifts. Check out Bev’s store here.
Last week my doc told me that I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists. It wasn’t a big surprise because I’ve had symptoms for a long time; numbness, tingling, and pain in my hands when I get cold along with fingers that are always so naturally chilly I can dip them quickly into boiling water and nab a hot noodle to check it for doneness. I have to strap on two lovely wrist splints every night now (very sexy) and I’ll visit my massage therapist and see if she can open up the carpal tunnel and relieve some of the nerve compression. I’ve been doing more writing and photography in the past few months, and even though I try to use good posture and support my wrists, I think that the added time at the computer has made things worse.
And here’s where the moanin’ part comes in. My body has disappointed me plenty over the years and I’m more than a little annoyed that it’s up to its old tricks again. I’ve dealt with chronic illness on and off since I was in my twenties and I’ve had to rearrange my dreams and goals many times to accommodate and care for the whims of this rather needy little body that I was born into. Living with chronic health problems has forced me to lead a more balanced life (which is a good thing), it has taken me on a journey that has taught me the value of self-acceptance, hope, and resilience (also good), but enough is enough already! So take note body, this is war, I absolutely positively refuse to give up any more territory to illness!
Oh, and that photo up yonder was taken just this morning, the sun actually came out today! The wind chill is 10 below zero but that’s okay, we are sooo sun starved here in Michigan this winter we’ll take it any way we can get it:)
My own prescription for health is less paperwork and more running barefoot through the grass. ~Leslie Grimutter
Ms. bookbabie has been all blinged out and is ready to sit back and watch the returns come in tonight. No matter what your political leanings happen to be, no one can deny that this year’s presidential primaries feel almost like the election itself. I’m 48 years old and I have never been as interested, as excited even, about an upcoming presidential election. I love that people everywhere are talking about the candidates, watching the debates, and I’m especially pleased that this enthusiasm seems to be spreading to a younger generation of voters. If your state is part of Super Tuesday, get to the polls so that your vote will count and your voice will be heard.
If you’d like to add a little bling to a photograph for your blog or MySpace page, go to blingee.com. When you’re done creating your masterpiece they give you several sizes, including an avatar that does not have their annoying logo on it!
I’m tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t work. We are supposed to work it. ~Alexander Woollcott
I’ve been thinking about happiness today, trying to put a finger on what it is and how to hold on to it when you have it. Yesterday, I suddenly realized that I was quite happy, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. When I went to the grocery store people kept looking me in the eye, smiling, and saying hello. It was strange because I usually feel somewhat invisible. Not in a bad way, more like in an undercover, superhero kind of way. Like I can move stealthily through my day and not garner a lot of attention. Perhaps it’s the writer and artist in me, wanting to blend into the background so I can observe and gather bits and pieces of people’s lives for later use. But there was no hiding yesterday. I felt like I had a spotlight shining down on me exclaiming, “Hey, look at her, she’s a happy friendly person!”
The interesting thing is, I woke up yesterday with the same blessings and the very same worries that I had the day before. When I did a search for books about happiness on Amazon I got 260,732 results. That’s a lot of books, most of them proclaiming that they can teach people how to be happy. Which is probably a good thing because when I searched for depression I got 263,382 hits. A close race, but unless the results are tallied in Florida, I would say that depression wins hands down. Where am I going with this? I honestly don’t know. Just like I don’t know why I was feeling bummed on Wednesday but woke up happy on Thursday. But I do know this much, even though I lost my cloak of invisibility it felt pretty good to be happy, so I’m simply going to enjoy walking in that spotlight for as long as it keeps on shining.
The photo above is of my daughter-in-law Meagan, my niece Aryielle, and Mr. bookbabie at a family dinner. Every time Meagan smiled at her, the baby totally cracked up, it was so funny and sweet we had tears streaming down our faces from laughing so hard. I wanted an image that illustrated happiness and every time I see that picture I can’t help but smile:)
Some people never find it, some only pretend, but I just want to live happily ever after every now and then. Jimmy Buffet
bookbabie 