WWW.WEDNESDAY

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy by Carl Sferrazza Anthony. This book shines a spotlight on 4 years of Jackie's life -- 1949 to 1954, ages 20 to 24. She goes from coed to career girl to bride. There is special emphasis on her job at the Washington Herald as "The Inquiring Camera Girl." Jackie Bouvier, who as Jackie Kennedy Onassis was wary (at best) of reporters and photographers, wrote more than 600 columns that had her snapping photos of people on the street. 

While one of the more recent and buzzier books about Jackie was written by a glorified gossip columnist, Carl Sferrazza Anthony is a historian who has published serious books about our First Ladies. So I'm excited about this one. He writes sensitively about Jackie Bouvier as a young woman trying to find her way in post-war, pre-feminist America.

 

2. What did you recently finish reading? Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist by MC Beaton. In this book, we take off for Cyprus with our heroine, 60-something Agatha Raisin. She's retired, having sold her PR business, so she has the money and the time. But this redoubtable Brit is set in her ways, and the Cypriots confound her. So do the disparate British tourists she meets. They have nothing in common, except for being Brits, and she doesn't understand why they seem to want to do everything together ... and with her. When one of them gets dead, Agatha is eager to find the killer. After all, she's one of the suspects.

 

While I'm not sorry I read this, I admit it's not the strongest in the series. The setting is different and interesting, but there are too many characters, too weakly drawn. This made it hard to guess the murderer.

 

3. What will you read next? I don't know.

Three Nice Things about Myself -- Day 19

My blogging buddy, Kwizgiver, wrote a post that really resonated with me. She detailed how self-care helped her helped her prevail during a (ridiculously) tough month. Her tips were very wise and so doable! So she has inspired me to take one and integrate it into my own life.

Since I can be a pretty harsh self-critic, this is the one I chose. I hope I can do this every day during March. By then it should be a habit, right?

Three nice things about myself -- March 19:

1) I said "thank you" again. Two years ago, I had just hired Rita. She was aware that mid-March was my work anniversary and sent me a fruit-and-chocolate bouquet, saying she was "forever grateful" that I took her under my wing. The photo of her gift showed up today on my Facebook memories. I took a moment to shoot her an email and let her know again how much her kind gesture had meant to me. There's a lot of bitching about Facebook out there, but if it wasn't for the platform, I wouldn't have remembered exactly when this happened and I wouldn't have been spurred to act. I'm glad I did.

2) I was the hub. Tomorrow I'm having lunch downtown with Elaine. I invited Will, the man who brought us together with movie group, to join us. I'm usually pretty passive about social gatherings, so I like myself for taking the initiative.

3) My wallet stayed in my purse. Today's lunch was leftover pizza and dinner was the chicken I had defrosting. I like that I'm being more thoughtful about my spending.

 

Trust, but verify

It's not like me to quote Ronald Reagan, but those are wise words. And they represent the way I feel about my boss at the card shop today. 

She told me last week that, while she couldn't guarantee me 2 days/week anymore for awhile, I was still part of the team. She said that, as opportunities for more hours presented themselves, she'd keep me in mind. I wanted to believe her and intellectually I did. But I've had crappy bosses in the past and I wasn't sure I could trust her.

Then this morning I got a text from her. She needed coverage today and asked me if I could put in a few hours this morning. I did so happily.

Not because of the money, though I like money. Not because I didn't have anything better to do, because working this morning meant I had to miss yoga.

I did so happily because it meant I could trust Ceecee. I trusted her, sure, but this affirmation felt good.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash