Happy

I can't stop thinking about my friend Barb. She has cancer. She has cancer. The enormity of it overwhelms me. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for her.

Next Wednesday she's having a double mastectomy. The one time we talked about it at length, she seemed more interested in the reconstructive surgery than the disease. Maybe she's worried about how her husband will respond to her. Maybe it's her way of facing forward. At any rate, I'm taking my cues from her. If the plastic surgery is her focus, then it's mine, too.

Since she's my theater buddy, I got her this nightshirt to wear during her recovery. It's loose, so it should be comfortable. It's cheap, so if anything leaks on it or stains it, it won't be any great loss. And she knows it's something chosen by me expressly for her.

It's that personal touch that makes me so happy with this purchase.

Farewell, Jen Lancaster

My home is overrun by books. I love them. But I plan to celebrate my new sofa by having my living room painted, so some of these books and magazines simply have to go. Any books that can't be housed in the den have to be "re-homed."

Since I hate to part with any of them, it's slow going. That slim volume of Agatha Christie short stories? Sure, I could get rid of it. After all, once you know whodunnit, there's little point in rereading. But these were my first Marple mysteries! Just holding the book with the ladylike lavender dust jacket made me recall how delighted I was to finally make Miss Marple's acquaintance. You see the problem.

On the other hand, I'm glad to be getting rid of my Jen Lancaster books. She an undeniably talented local author I read obsessively for a while … until I noticed the quality of her books taking a slow dive and discovered through her social media/online presence that her self absorption wasn't leavened with self awareness. Getting rid of her stuff feels like an exorcism, giving me the high that "decluttering" articles always promise.

I'd never throw any book away. That's why I'm putting them in my neighbor's Little Free Library for someone else to take and enjoy. It might make Jen Lancaster happy to know that, in my bluer-than-blue community, she has a crack at changing more progressive little minds.

As the lady herself once said:

“No one’s going to be won over by my spouting dogma in my books because that’s not why people buy my stuff. I don’t write essays on why liberalism doesn’t work or why Obama’s taking us down a slippery slope. People read my books to laugh, so that’s my goal. But if my goofy little stories just happen to emphasize conservative values like morality, self-determination, and liberty, well… let’s just say that’s not unintentional.”

Yeah, those are exclusively conservative values and completely foreign to us libs. Did I mention how satisfying it is that others will be getting her books but she won't be getting royalties? Who says liberalism doesn't work? Tee hee.