Santa Fe bound

i am currently biding my time in the Cincinnati airport, drinking diet coke, people watching, etc. i just watched a man and woman, both single (it appeared), and both forty-ish, meet and bond over their love of dachshunds. maybe they will fall in love. and live happily ever after in house full of puppies. then i watched two tired moms bond over their eighteen month-old babies. they traded stats and watched their babies coo at each other, wearing tired-proud-mom smiles. and me? hmm, well i just ate a really delicious philly cheese steak sandwich. anyone else have a good sandwich story? anyone? we could bond....no? ah well....

~~~~~

i am down to the last magical page of this magical, lovely book. and i am sad. i don't want it to end! i have another novel with me, for when this one runs out, but i feel like it would be wrong somehow to move on so quickly. to jump into another world without so much as a thought on all that i've been given and all i have learned. i feel that i need some time. some space. to just let the juices of this yummy, yummy book marinate in my heart. really it is difficult to describe how full and lovely this story is. and how incredibly hopeful it manages to be without the fluff or pretension or strained effort one might typically see in this type of story. the characters have become so real to me -- my friends, my family. and it has somehow managed to renew my faith in hope. sometimes life just seems so disappointing. so overwhelming. and....well, so broken -- broken in an irreparable sort of way. but this story is a reminder and a testimony that it IS possible to break into a million tiny pieces and then come back to life. and that sometimes it is even NECESSARY to break in order to come back to life. and that fullness and joy can spring up from really unexpected places, and in unexpected ways. besides that, it has all of the elements of a great story (in my opinion): humor, love, art, relationships and redemption.

that's all i have to say about that. now -- i am off to read and savor my last page, which will probably be followed by ipod-ing and pondering.

au voir!