What I'm Reading

I've come to a turning point in my reading. For many years I have read to escape, reading mostly mysteries and thrillers, and avoiding the heavy literary works that bring on depression.

I had a breakthrough with "The Hours," Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel featuring Virginia Woolf, a 1940's housewife reading "Mrs. Dallowy" for emotional survival, and a modern "Clarissa Dalloway." It sounded like a landscape filled with too many depressives, but when I finally watched the movie I saw that it was above all about loving life.

I ventured to read the book, and went on to read Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway." While I was on a roll, I read two more books I'd avoided: "The Kite Runner" and Toni Morrison's "Beloved." Loved 'em, loved 'em, loved 'em.

I feel liberated, free to read more deeply, no longer so afraid of triggering or exacerbating a depression.

Today's Joys

Things I thoroughly enjoyed today:

Walking in light rain down to the Mississippi.

Watching the white heron I've been seeing lately. Watching the shimmer of waves in subdued light.

Taking off my shoes, standing barefoot in cool wet grass, and eating raspberries until I could eat no more.

Choir practice at First Universalist: both the singing and the joshing around. The basses as usual were the "troublemakers," the tenors had ready quips, the sopranos were thin and lovely, and the altos laughed at all the jokes.

An extended call to the help desk at work, because Tony cracks me up. I can feel myself on the verge of losing it laughing, and sometimes I roll right over the edge.

Sitting in a bookstore, drinking tea, reading a magazine, listening to the rain pound on the outside. (Vastly preferable to being stuck in extra-slow rush-hour traffic, on top of post-bridge collapse congestion, on top of our already crowded streets and highways. I waited it out at Borders Books.)
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I copied the picture of the heron from this blog entry about herons: http://qualiajournal.blogspot.com/2006/12/white-herons_8518.html

Credo, #2

(The picture shows Bach's original manuscript for the Credo section of his B Minor Mass. Click on it for a larger view.)

Ever since I became acquainted with the "Credo" from Bach's Mass in B Minor, I've tried to determine what my credo is. What do I believe? Here is a not-very-serious but absolutely-for-sure list of some things I believe.

CREDO

• Always keep your sense of humor.

• Take your work seriously but don't take yourself seriously.

• Never make a decision at night. (Grandpa Ray)

• If you can't sleep, turn your pillow over so the cool side is up. (Grandpa Ray)

• There's always time to go to the bathroom.

• You get what you pay for.

• The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.

• Take time for quiet time, also known as "To keep crisp, reroll inner bag." (Kellogg's Rice Krispies box)

• Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great Battle. (Philo of Alexandria, philosopher)