In honor of our recent (Sunday June 8th) 17th wedding anniversary I thought I’d post this.
I finished up She’s Come Undone recently at the gym between classes. This quote is at the very end of the book and it had me both laughing out loud and thinking at the same time.
“…I just don’t believe in happily-ever-after”
“I ain’t offering you happily-ever-after. I’m offering you…happily-maybe-sometimes-ever-after. Sort of. You know, with warts…”
Isn’t this so true?! Isn’t this all any of us really have to offer? When we get married we think we can offer the other person perfection (and thus receive it back in return) and yet in reality all we have to offer is ourselves, “You know, with warts”. It doesn’t sound nearly as romantic “happily-maybe-sometimes-ever-after” but isn’t it much more realistic? This isn’t what young girls dream about, but maybe they should because it’s true.
Happy Anniversary to us, warts and all.
Since the beginning of the year this is what I’ve been reading.
When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull up a Chair by Geneen Roth : I found this author in Good Housekeeping magazine. She is a regular columnist for them now. My plan is to read more of her books as they become available at the library. Many of her insights were eye-opening, light bulb type moments for me. I found myself wondering how she knew exactly what I was thinking.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson: This book came up at Amazon under one of those “if you liked this, you may like this”. It was very entertaining both about his travels and adventures and also very insightful as to the way people in the areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan live. I feel like a more informed person having read the book.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: The author was on Oprah and I realized while watching the show that apparently I was one of the only people left on the planet who hadn’t read this book. Since then I’ve discovered that I’m not. I gave the book to several of my friends for Christmas and I currently have my copy out on loan. Ms. Gilbert has a very entertaining style of writing. It’s cliche to say “I laughed, I cried”, but really, I did!
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb: My mother-in-law left this book here after her last visit. She said that it was very good and that I would enjoy it. She was right! It took me a probably a third of the way into it to really get into it, but it’s an enjoyable story. I didn’t find it as funny as one of the critics from People magazine (quoted on the back cover) but I also would recommend it to others.
Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich: Pure brain candy!!! One of my dear sweet friends is to blame for getting me hooked on this series last year. I’m eagerly anticipating #14 in the series, however this “between the numbers” book was released first. The between the numbers books are glorified short stories in my opinion. Good none-the-less, but almost not worth publishing into a real book. It was enough to tie me over until the next “real” release. One of these days I truly hope Ms. Evanovich is given an offer she can’t refuse to bring these fantastic characters to screen, big or little, it would be a treat for us all.
Next in the pile:
- The Pilot’s Wife
- a few of Sheldon Siegel’s books
- whatever I can get by Geneen Roth from the library