Today will be better

Hello friends. My digital hiatus is over and I am excited to get back to blogging hopefully renewing my commitment to provide you with content on a more regular basis.

An entire year has nearly gone by and may I say rather quickly. The summer was spent working on improvements to the garden, autumn came too quickly and the holidays arrived and then vanished. Now, four days after my birthday I want to get these words out into the world as more and more people are discovering the site and that is truly a blessing.

It seems that my posts regarding the Ben Cooper costumes and Ira’s guest post are proving more and more popular as time goes by. That leads to an interesting thought process. Nostalgic sentimentality and a longing for a simpler time seem to be dominant at this point in time. The more technology seems to advance, the less inclined we are to enjoy it apparently. It shall be interesting what the future will hold.

This paragraph I am now typing was going to be one announcing I was going to make some format changes. I created a new header image, created some new categories and was preparing to transition from writing posts at random, to a more refined, concise type of writing and more important strict categorization. I then realized, that is not me. I will digress for a moment and say that I play video games. As such, I read video game forums and often I will read rants from players complaining about how difficult more complicated games do not make it immediately clear what you are supposed to do. These players very much expect a little window to pop up walking them through this and that so they can navigate through the game at ease. I mention this because my blog is a lot like a complicated game. I am not going to tell you what the blog is about because it truly is not about any one thing. It is about many things that can potentially nourish the mind, body and soul. Take from it what you will. I just hope you enjoy my writing and if you find something that speaks to you, wonderful! Better still, if my writing is engaging enough for you to leave a comment, contact me or subscribe, I have accomplished my end goal. That being said, I have many things I wish to share with you in the coming weeks but for now, I want to get this small post out there.

To tide you over, here is a post I wrote over a decade ago describing a book I fell in love with. Enjoy!

The Forever Year by Ronald Anthony

This book has proved to be a real great find I have to say. When on my honeymoon in Sedona Arizona, we meandered into a bookshop to get a good read while lazing around the hotel pool. I had no real idea what I wanted to buy so I browsed the shelves for something that “looked good”. I read through several book jackets and then came across this book. I was immediately hooked by the by-lines:

Do you believe love can last forever?
Jesse Sienna doesn’t. His own parents’ marriage was caring but passionless, and his own romantic history tells him that love burns brightest before fizzling out completely…… etc.

I thought to myself: Excellent. This sounds like my kind of book. Although I started reading this book while in Sedona, I did not get very far. In fact I have not allowed much time at all to read until recently. Now that I have finished it I am so happy I purchased it. Not only does it hold a memory of a very special time in my life but it also has left me with a sense of appreciation for all that I have been blessed with in life.

This is a wonderful book. Jesse Sienna is the main character. He is a gifted writer who has been settling for run of the mill boring writing projects. He has always fancied meatier projects but he just can’t seem to land them. He is dating a sensuous, sweet, beautiful woman named Marina. She is a school teacher and loves Jesse very much. Both she and Jesse have had the worst luck when it comes to relationships so they have based their relationship on the notion that true love is a fool’s game and that they will take each day as it comes.

Jesse’s life gets turned upside down when his elderly father Mickey has a mishap in the kitchen one evening. His siblings come to the decision to place him in a home but Jesse has other ideas. Because he missed out on a close relationship with his dad, he offers to have Mickey stay with him. At first Jesse thinks this was a big mistake until Mickey shares with him a story of the true love of his life (not his mother). Not another soul knows this side of Mickey and Jesse feels extremely privileged that his father chose him to share these memories.

As Jesse learns more about the relationship he had with this other woman, his relationship with Marina takes unexpected turns. This of course causes anxiety and Jesse prepares for the end.

Here is an excerpt from the book that really touched me. Prior to telling Jesse about the love of his life, Mickey would take out her picture, sit on the bed and close his eyes. He would then imagine having a conversation with her. Here is the excerpt:

“You want to know something funny?” he said to the image in his head. “I’ve been thinking a lot the last couple of days about Jenny Herschberg. You remember her? She worked in my office and she always used to come by to say hello when you visited. Remember how she used to have a new boyfriend just about every week? She just kept looking and looking, trying to find a husband.

“It’s that thing she would say when I’d ask her about it that reminded me of her. ‘I’m just looking for someone to grow old with,’ she’d say. Remember that? I’m sure I told you because she said it to me so many times. ‘I’m just looking for someone to grow old with.’ Like that was all there was to love and marriage. Find someone who you’d be comfortable talking to about your arthritis or your failing vision or your creaky knees. Boy, if that was all she was looking for, she probably could have just gone out and picked someone off the street.”

“Anyway, I’ve been thinking about that lately because I’ve been wondering what it is that people are really looking for anyway. I never gave it much thought myself because it just happened. But, you know, I’m meeting Jesse’s girlfriend tonight and he’s just never seemed to have any idea of what he’s after. I guess I’m just wondering if you ever really know. I certainly didn’t know that I was looking for you.”

Mickey tilted his head back farther, his closed eyes pointed toward the ceiling.

“Do you ever get tired of hearing me tell you how much I love you? Do you ever think that I’m boring because I say the same things to you over and over again? If you do, I’ll stop.”

“No, that’s not really true. I wouldn’t stop even if you wanted me to because I can’t stop. I could never stop.”

Mickey opened his eyes and admired the picture again. How could anyone ever have been so beautiful? What would he trade to have her here now?

Final Thoughts:
I see romance in everything around me. This book is all about romance and true love. But there is more to it than that. There is the reminder that although we have pre-conceived notions of the way things are, that doesn’t necessarily mean that those notions are correct. We all have defence mechanisms and walls. Those walls can stop us from getting close to anyone or worse yet it prevents anyone from getting too close to us. That is not a way to live. Life is about loving. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. For every time that you lose, you will certainly appreciate that one great time when you win. The Forever Year reminded me of that.

I’m hoping that what I wrote will encourage you to go out and buy this book. You won’t be disappointed. It is a beautiful read.

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