Am currently reading The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. The reader is taken from present day to 1941 of war-torn Leningrad and the people who removed priceless masterpieces from the Hermitage for safekeeping as the German army advanced. Images of forced labor in unspeakable conditions become gauzy as the passion for the treasures levitate from the pages to become palpable.

With every book I read (even crummy ones) I'm always rewarded with at least one sentence that pleases me with a curiosity to explore my own life deeper.

Thus far in Madonnas:

More distressing than the loss of words is the way that time contracts and fractures and drops her in unexpected places.

The primary character, Marina, suffers from short term memory loss.

I don't.

(Hey! I heard that!)

But I felt I could apply the described sensation to my own life. As I've mentioned before, I've never been one to recall dreams unless Bill Gates is in them, but lately I've been dreaming a lot. They're also gauzy - a mishmash of events from my life that float and skim and scamper into my nighttime reveries. My dreams have become like trailers to a movie - snippets that contract and fracture and drop me in unexpected places.

The experience is unusual, a bit surreal.

And there you have it. One of the many reasons I like to read. The unexpected connection that happens every time.


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I sent David a link to my last post and challenged him to select the sentence that I found most important, most revealing, most favorite, most everything for me.

David will be terrified to read this, but truth is, we think a lot alike. When he was a squirt we didn't have TV during his most formative years. It wasn't fashionable then as it is now. We just didn't have TV. We read a lot and talked a lot.

I must clarify that though David and I think alike, he's infinitely smarter than me. (Proven by the way I just ended that sentence.) (Which by the way, though I'm not a famous writer and haven't earned the freedom to write as I damn well please, I do anyway.)

Over the years, David and I have been *first readers* for each other. He's quite good. Frank and honest with solid suggestions.

Anyway, we talked this morning and he told me the sentence he thought was the most significant in my last post... AND HE WAS RIGHT!

I've thought about the sentence quite a bit and have been amused and impressed with its simplicity. I think it's one of the most important life lessons I've discovered.

The sentence was:

I've learned that an egg is an egg.



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David continued to observe he liked that I used the word somersault instead of tumble - that if something tumbles, it merely falls - but a somersault is intentional and requires effort.

Love this kid.



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Below is a photo of the place cards for the rehearsal dinner in September. I had them shipped to Olivia because she offered to do them for me. I think they look fabulous! I'm the luckiest woman in the world to have this woman in my life.


Truth is, if I did the place cards, getting seated would become a parlor game as everyone tried to decipher my handwriting.








Olivia & David


As always, thanks for stopping by. Love.