A last hurrah

I have such a heavenly day planned:

- Read on metro. Watch speeding scenery changes. Play million dollars and a passport.

- Wander around Capitol Hill Books. Peruse all mysteries, hold on to something that is more madcap then thriller. Hunt for Cold Comfort Farm. Justify its purchase as I cannot find my own copy. If possible, buy two copies, just in case. Success means I found some wonderful Elizabeth Gaskell that I have not read; super success means I have also found my Monday night book club book.

- Make transfer on metro. Miss train to people watch.

- Walk up and down fancy stairs at the Portrait Gallery. Maybe imagine that it is 1865 and am wearing a regal creation with a long train. Visit all my friends. Pay respects to Katherine. Ran sack book store.

- Caress finds on the metro.

While I knew my day was perfect, the heavens above sought to make it even better: Hot Jane Eyre, tonight.

My Life as a Ten Year Old: How on the first day of vacation, I avoided all adult responsibilities and read a book all day, from start to finish.

When I started Hiroko Sherwin's Eight Million Gods and Demons, I thought I was reading about the strength of a tender wife whose philandering husband causes great devastation in her home life. I did not know her strength was just the introduction, that her story laid the foundation for the narrative's theme.

I was reading about the strength of family. How strength and courage changes overtime; what was once confrontational, maybe now courage to speak one's mind. As the characters moved out of their caricatures, I found myself in their words and actions. And I wondered. In the same shadow of destruction, would I have the same strength of words and actions. Or is my courage only strong when the sun is shinning.

Excuses*

The calm,
Cozy feel of my pajamas
Asked me for a cuddle.

*With apologies to Langston Hughes's "Suicide Note."