Early this morning vanilla GU wet my tongue and slid slowly down my throat. It was the first time I'd tasted the stuff since my marathon, almost a year and a half ago.
Last night I finished my novel. Kim gave it to me for Christmas. When I opened the package a flood of emotions rolled over me. Jeannette Walls also wrote, The Glass Castle, a novel that twisted my heart strings so forcefully that as embarrassing as it is to admit, it had me researching, emailing and maybe even mildly stalking Ms. Walls. I didn't know if I should read Half Broke Horses. Her previous novel had me crying afterwards for three straight days. Bob found me sobbing in the shower one morning and shaking his head he lectured, "You just can't read books like that!" I'm happy to report I didn't cry one time during or after the novel. It was nowhere near the emotional roller coaster as her first, and I enjoyed it immensely.
I finished The Help over the Christmas break. My only complaint, I didn't feel I had real closure, and really that isn't a complaint but more of a compliment to Ms. Stockett, because her characters were so vibrant, heroic and noteworthy in my book, that when the novel sadly came to a close, I was left feeling hungry for more. To her characters, I just wasn't yet ready to say, "good-bye."
Isn't it funny, that after 8 hard months with a newborn, it's the subtle things (a long run accompanied by a taste of GU and finishing two delicious novels) that bring us back to ourselves, reminding us of who we are, and giving us hope that our old life is waiting patiently for us, just around the bend. Quite possibly, before I know it, we'll stumble upon each other and when we do, I envision myself, arms wide and out-stretched, welcoming in that old life, quite certain.......
It will be one glorious reunion.
