Last night (well, afternoon in most places) at four the “bookies” as we call our book club, met at my house as snow was gently falling to discuss Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House, which everyone loved (almost, one of us was not as sure) but then she started speaking about the house she grew up in that was sold, and how she used to go look at it the way the brother and sister in the novel do, and spoke of her sorrow over the loss of that home, and there you have the power of words on a page written by a woman from Nashville about a family in Pennsylvania to open the heart of an Alaskan woman. We took turns talking and listening and one woman highlighted a line about doctors– specifically one delivering news of a sudden death, perhaps a heart attack (I won’t spoil the book by saying which character)– and how the doctor had assured his loved ones that the end had been swift and painless, and yet the medical student telling the story notes, that the doctor couldn’t possibly know that for sure, but it’s those not quite truths that are a comfort because we want them to be, and what’s wrong with that? Then our friend said that what this book did for her was to help her realize that everyone has something, cancer isn’t unique or diabetes or a miscarriage or anxiety, or any number of medical or emotional conditions that cause a little pain or a little sorrow ( or a lot)– that’s what it means to be alive. Our response then, is not to be depressed or angered by that news (if I can call it that) but rather to feel closer to members of our great big dysfunctional human family (we are all in this together after all) and to be extra gentle with one another. (Or as best as we are able to.) We are not all doctors, but we can all be healers, can’t we?
Well, that’s a deep thought. That’s what December can do to an early riser. There’s a lot of time to think before sunrise.
Here’s something much lighter: There is choir practice tonight at 6 at the Senior Center (The Messiah sing a long is in a few weeks) and tomorrow is First Friday and the tree lighting on Main Street (next to the Brewery) is at 5. The cotton candy machine won’t be there this year, but there will be cocoa and popcorn and all that good cheer for kids and grownups. There will be holiday open houses and exhibits all over town, including at Takshanuk’s office at Jones Point, and Linda Buckley is signing her new children’s book at the Arts Confluence. (The holiday cookie and candy contest drop off is from 8-3 at the visitor center Friday too, and entries will be judged at the tree lighting.) The Lighting of the Fort is Saturday. The canon will blast at 5 sharp, Annette says, so make sure your dog is safe and won’t bolt from the bang. There will be a nativity play, a bonfire and weenie roast afterwards. If the snow sticks, bring sleds. Happy Thursday.
