December 15, 2009

Stopping By to Visit Old Friends


Stocking top on top of a pile of returns at Target. 2009.




Himself: Swam. Had a really wonderful time ooooohing and ahhhhhhhing at a private automotive museum.

Herself: Phone call with Bee, swam, meeting on miracles, and Grumpy’s SES (Service Engine Soon), light came on again on the way home so t’was off to the dealer and another free repair. And here I was just talking with him telling him that I thought I wasn’t a really good owner.

Reading: Little Women.

Balance: Little Women.

As the darkness fell, I stayed curled up in my big old chair reading. Reading and crying.

Oh, I knew Beth was going to die. I’d forgotten she almost died of Typhoid fever before she faded away with Tuberculosis. I cried through it all, sniveling and wiping my eyes on my increasingly damp sweatshirt. There was no stopping me. I couldn’t put it down.

The girls grow up, Meg marries, Laurie’s proposal passed me by and I kept on sniveling, Jo loses her chance to go to Europe, and I couldn’t stop wiping my leaking eyes. Then Jo goes to New York and meets Professor Bhaer. I cried even more.

The last light of day faded, the dirty dishes waited, G was upstairs computering, and I continued reading and crying.

Finally I turned the last page. My eyes were swollen yet my soul had a feeling of comfort. This morning, I woke to crusty, cantankerous eyes, but it was worth every tear, every Victorianism, and the whole evening to come away feeling as if I had stopped by to visit old friends after a long time away.


5 comments:

  1. I never quite knew what to make of Professor Bhaer. I know he was supposed to be right for Jo, but he never was in my heart. What about you?

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  2. I also agree that Professor Bhaer was a little stodgy for Jo who always pushed the envelope.

    I cried too, but I was much younger than. I wonder if I would cry now?

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  3. I read it so long ago, but recently the movie was on television and I too cried and cried and cried. I think a good cry is emotionally such a good release.

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  4. Regarding Klesmer...very fun and high energy and I love the folkness of it. It does burn me out soon though as that energy like the energy of jazz can be wearing.

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  5. I love it when I can get into a book like that! Maybe I'll look into a Little Women re-read soon.Have you noticed the PBS ads about the movie on Louisa Mae Alcott? Looks very interesting indeed.

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