A Covenant Between the Pages

/ roughwighting

One of my friends, Esther, sends an e-mail to a group of us declaring, “Hello, Beautiful(s). Excuse me while I disappear!”

“What? Wait!” Judy demands in a return group e-mail. She’s the most assertive of my college friends who have stayed in touch through so many years. “Listen to the wisdom of the Silver Sisters. Us, your friends for years! Or use your own constructive thinking. You’ll feel better when the rain ends. Otherwise, there’s no coming back from this decision.”

As a follow up I suggest, “Meet me in the margins of no judgment. All four of us, 1 p.m. tomorrow at that café called The Last Phone Booth in Manhattan.”

Now, here at the back table of the small café, I look around, remembering when we were enemies. That goes years back when we believed that happiness falls depending on who was dating whom. Esther wanted Jim who wanted Sarah who had her eyes on Kevin, engaged to me. Judy sat smartly on the sidelines.

We laugh now at the stuff that never happened, grateful that after college we became wild, beautiful and free, charting careers and living life like a romantic comedy. Then, we each became an American Wife.

“Those were the vibrant years,” Ester bemoans as she sips on her cappuccino. “The world that we knew, ah, we lived on a chemistry of love. I believed in a garden of happy endings. But now . . . the seas of time have caught up with me. D. Wallace Peach, Seas of Time

“No way,” Judy replies. This is the better half of our life. Look around and take the measure of each of us and what we’ve done!”

“A catalogue of catastrophes,” Sarah says cheerfully, being no help at all.

I glare at her.

“Just kidding!” Sarah laughs. “Esther, we know it’s been hard for you since dear Edward died, and reminders of him are all over your home. But feast on the slivers of life that brighten your day. Being Mortal is our reality.”

The Covenant of WaterI pour a glass of water for each of us around the table and add, “Let’s make a Covenant of Water.” I raise my glass to these special women. “What we keep within us always is gratefulness for friendship, love, family. This place of wonder, full of pain as well as joy, challenges as well as laughter, well, pour it on,” I say.

Four glasses raise and we all say, “Cheers!”

Who will accompany us on this journey we take, daily, toward an unknown address, at times searching for that missing piece on a timeline where we hope to find a recipe for second chances?reading, philosophy, elderly, aging, enjoy life

How philosophical we humans can be as we travel on the road towards home, even though we’re not sure where the final “home” is, nor even if we’re on the right road! Here’s to the adventures ahead.

_______________________________________

My 2023 book titles that helped create my story (asterisk my favorites):

Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano *

Excuse Me While I Disappear, Laurie Notaro

Wisdom of the Silver Sisters – Guiding Grace, Sandy Rogers, Sharyn Jordan

Constructive Thinking: How to Grow Beyond Your Mind, Lisa Manzi Lentino

When the Rain Ends, Mary Ellen Taylor *

There’s No Coming Back from This, Ann Garvin

Meet Me in the Margins, Melissa Fergusen

The Last Phone Booth in Manhattan, Beth Merlin

When We Were Enemies, Emily Bleeker *

Happiness Falls, Angie Kim *

The Stuff That Never Happened, Maddie Dawson

Wild, Beautiful, and Free: A Novel, Sophfronia Scott

Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld *

American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld *

The Vibrant Years: A Novel, Sonali Dev and Mindy Kaling

The World That We Knew: A Novel, Alice Hoffman

The Chemistry of Love, Sariah Wilson *

The Garden of Happy Endings, Barbara O’Neal*

The Seas of Time: Harbor Pointe Series Book 4, D. Wallace Peach *

The Better Half, Alli Frank

The Measure, Nikki Erlick*

A Catalogue of Catastrophe, Jodi Taylor

Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano *

Reminders of Him: A Novel, Colleen Hoover

Slivers Of Life, Beem Weeks*

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Atul Gawande

The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese **

What We Keep, Elizabeth Berg

This Place of Wonder. Barbara O’Neal*

Pour It On, Staci Troilo,

Who Will Accompany You? Meg Stafford

The Address: A Novel, Fiona Davis

The Missing Piece: A Novel (Dismas Hardy Book 19), John Lescroart

Timeline, Michael Crichton*

Recipe for Second Chances, Ali Rosen, *

The Road Towards Home, Corinne Demas *

And here is my entire list of Goodreads year of books 2023: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2023/12334429

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WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK OF 2023?

 

90 thoughts on “A Covenant Between the Pages”

  10. Cheers to a superb book title story with powerful sentiment, Pam! 😀This is vibrant, full of energy between the women with sparkling conversation covering the width of our lives and in awe how you’ve naturally woven in so many of the titles! Lots of familiar books I read last year and The Covenant of Water is a tome on my kindle and one I’m waiting to tackle! Well done and the start of the year wouldn’t be the same without your regular feature of these! hugs xx ❤️

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  11. I love all the posts written like this. I can’t help but smile. You read some great books in 2023. My favorite book of 2023 was non-fiction and it was: Who Ate the First Oyster? by Cody Cassidy. It’s a fascinating look at how cultures evolved, presented through the lens of who did something first.

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  16. What a beautiful muse so very creative with all of those lovely books you have read throughout last year… A delightful way of presenting them..
    May you find many more book titles to help fill 2024 Pam…
    Sending you lots of well wishes and much love to keep you company during 2024… ❤ xx

    Liked by 3 people

  18. Well done. Was this a writing challenge? Your reading list is as diverse as your writing and as interesting as your writing. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise.

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    • This is an annual “books I’ve read” challenge I write every year. Is it a challenge? Absolutely. But it’s a fun one. And thanks, yes, as I go over the titles I realize I’ve read just about every genre.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Ah, the “maybe” list. Some of the books I read this year I did so because (1) friends recommended, (2) I read good reviews about them (3) they’re written by blogging friends or (4) I selected them for free from the monthly “Amazon Prime Free Reads.”

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  20. You are soooo good at these, Pam. I loved how you wove all those titles together into a cohesive story. And a good one at that with a lovely message at the end. I giggled at seeing The Seas of Time in the bunch – huge hugs for reading. I wish you a beautiful new year loaded with wonderful books. ❤ ❤ ❤

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  24. I always look forward to these posts, Pam. It’s such a fun way to learn about what you read in the year just past!
    Always hard for me to choose what my favourite books were but I really enjoyed Jodi Picoult’s “Wish You Were Here” and Fredrik Bachman’s “My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologizes”.

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    • I also enjoy Picoult’s books – and really liked Wish You Were Here. I haven’t read that particular book by Bachman and I’m off to request it from my library! Thanks for the recommendation. xo (Just did it – I’m #20 on 6 holds – not bad!)

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      • I don’t know how she manages so well to show both sides of a story. Wish You Were Here – talk about a twist!
        I loved that Bachman. I love his style. Wow! I guess it’s popular! I wish I had a decent library near me – that had English books, that is…

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  27. Hi Pam – so clever, as always! I have Hello Beautiful queued up on my Kindle so I’m glad to see that it was one of your favorites. You read some great books in 2023. Here’s to another successful reading year!

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  28. Well, now I feel like a complete slacker! How did you ever read that many books? I’m so impressed! (while hanging my head. LOL). The best book I read in 2023 was “The Museum of Extraordinary Things” by Alice Hoffman. That and one other expanded my 5 favorite books of all time to 7.
    I have copied your whole list to my list of possible reads, because we so often love the same books. Thank you for that!
    Next year, I think I’d like to see your list in rhyme …. 🙂

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  30. You put me to shame with the quantity of books you get through. There was a time in my life I could do that but not so much anymore. Love how you wind titles into a story. What fun. I really don’t get to read as many novels as I’d like but so far, 2023’s favorite was The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride by Joe Siple. It made me laugh and cry at the same time.

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