This month I read a fiction book that requires you to suspend your belief just a bit—but once you do, you get brought into the most marvelous and truly thought provoking love story between a parent and child.
The book is called This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, and tells the tale of a woman living in NYC, who has a job she likes, but doesn’t love, a boyfriend she tolerates, but doesn’t much like, and a father who is slowly dying, and there’s not a thing she can do to change it. She can’t help but wonder if things could be better.
On the eve of her 40th birthday, she goes out by herself to a bar she used to frequent as a teenager and throws back one too many. She staggers home to her childhood apartment, passes out, and wakes up the next morning in her 16 year old body with her 40 year old mind.
She’s shocked at how young her father seems when she was a teenager (because truly, he’s only 49!), and events of her past begin taking on a new meaning with the benefit of hindsight and grown-up perspective. Now the big question she ponders is—with the power to change things, would she?
She sits with the thought: “How do I know which life to choose?” …and brings the reader along on the ride.
I absolutely adored this book—my face was wet with sloppy tears by the end—but it brings so much to mind, and heart.
A beautiful passage smack in the middle of the book reads:
“Maybe that was the trick to life: to notice all the tiny moments in the day when everything else fell away and, for a split second, or maybe even a few seconds, you had no worries, only pleasure, only appreciation of what was right in front of you. Transcendental meditation, maybe, but with hot dogs and the knowledge that everything would change, the good and the bad, and so you might as well appreciate the good.”
Friends, we never truly know what’s coming, so let’s be happy when it’s here. Whatever it may be.
What’s a great book you’ve read recently?
A Little Something Holistic Health
We read and discussed the book Chakras and Self-Care in our virtual Hygge Yoga Book Club last month. Prior to meeting for our discussion, we all took this free online quiz to see which one of our chakras currently needs balancing (this can change as frequently as you do!) It was really interesting hearing community members report back not just about the chakra they’re working with, but WHAT they’re doing to balance. This included verbal affirmations and mantras, specific chakra balancing meditations, using crystals, and surrounding ourselves with the color associated with the chakra. (p.s. if you’re interested in joining our virtual community which meets monthly to discuss books and all things holistic health and hygge, you can join right here!)
A Hygge Haiku From My Week
A perfect white foam
and sprinkle of cinnamon
dusting my beverage.
A Cozy Quote To Leave You With
“No wonder there were so many songs about time, and books about time, and movies about time. It was more than hours and minutes, yes, but Alice could see how much each of those mattered, all those tiny moments added together.” —Emma Straub