this is happy

One Wednesday, maybe 6 years ago, we had a famous author to one of our ‘famous’ JORO dinners. You remember these  Wednesday night dinners where anyone of us could invite anyone who had become interesting in our lives, a friend, the postman, a teacher, a boyfriend, a new pal, an old pal. It was my way of having my life and family bigger not smaller than it once was. This is happy.

I had met her at a cooking class and book talk. After everyone had cleared out, we began to get to know each other. She told me about her life and the unexpected turns it had taken. I told her about mine. I was with my friend Sam and we told her about how she and her 2 daughters had become so important to the 3 of us- post divorce. How this, all the unexpected stuff, all the making the most of, all the surprise gifts of a challenging life well lived, is my happy.

We invited her to one of our dinners. At the dinner, with her baby girl on her lap, she told all of us her story of how she fell in love, got married and how she and her partner, were able to conceive, even though the odds were against them. Then how the love of her life told her one day she no longer loved her and was leaving her- a brutal announcement especially mid pregnancy.

At the end of a run last month in Sherwood Park, I bumped into an acquaintance. She was telling me about a new book I would love. She described the story. I said- that is so weird it sounds just like a story that someone once told me at my dinner table.

Apparently not a coincidence.

raw honest and simply told

raw, honest and simply told

I just finished the book. I highly recommend it.

That is the thing about life changing stories, they are just dying to come out.

Btw, this is (one version of my) happy. And I can’t wait to have it this weekend. Happy thanksgiving to all of you. I am thankful.

this is happy

this is happy