Saturday, November 5, 2011

Journal 87 Blue Night, Bright Day

Greeted Saturday early by staying up past midnight (1:23am to be exact) to finish reading Joan Didion's new book "Blue Nights" which was, truly, worth how tired I looked when I awoke to get ready to go running at 8:31am this morning.
I'd already read some press she'd done for the book, I knew the premise (a follow up to The Year of Magical Thinking about the sudden death of her husband in 2003, after almost four decades together).
Blue Nights is about the next loss she suffered, less than two years after her husband--her adult daughter, only child, adopted at birth, and her continuation to make sense of a work that left her, basically, family-less, and marching alone, through her old age. It was breath-taking. I don't have any children, I am not close to my seventies, but there were parts of the book, as there always are for me when I am lost in a good one, where I had to close the book over, stare off into middle-distance, and let the tears fall, not just for what I may have just read on the page, but for this human condition, these lives we lead, the suffering that seems to inflict those who feel it the keenest.
This was such a book. I knew I was not sleeping until it was finished.

I walked to Starbucks after my pre-run shower, had a dose of vitamin D, and gauged the temperature of this very bright, very brisk November day. In the end I did decide to run in shorts, with a windbreaker, and I wore gloves to start ( I was glad of each choice). My running reunion was joyous (I had not run since Saturday, October 23rd, a bout of stomach flu grounding me. My stomach, I am sorry to report, is still not 100%; my sister claims it's stress, she is more than likely right).
Anyway, today was an amazing run, with a good finish, good time, and very good weather.

I'm doing laundry, planning my clean-off for later, and steeling myself to brave the crowds of downtown this afternoon to get to the Eaton's Centre (trying to find a little 'welcome' gift for Mike--he arrives tomorrow) and then on to the market, as I want to make something special for him when he gets here.
I'm sad that he couldn't make it here for Friday which was the original plan, but glad that his toothache has been dealt with (he had a root canal yesterday on the dentist's day off. The dentist came in especially for him to do the procedure) and he sounded alot better when I talked to him last night, during a brief pause in reading Blue Nights.
I also talked to my mother and sister at various points of the evening, and both sounded good, actually the three of us sounded good, better than we have lately.
That's the weekend so far. And it's not even halfway there, I have the Natalie Goldberg book to finish, later today I think, and three more library books, plus the new Nigel Rodgers memoir which I am waiting to read until it will have my full attention.

Saturday is still my favourite day of the week.

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