11 Comments
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Diane Wyzga's avatar

You had me at books, Jeff!

Each time I purchase new book I write the following: Ex Libris, Diane Wyzga, the date & where I might have purchased it. When I die folks are welcome to toll the shelves & take home a volume that speaks to them.

The other day a book spoke to me again: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - one of the several that fell into my lap & set me off on the Camino de Santiago. I read it differently than I first did. I feel the journey that I had no real clue about before.

One of the very best gifts for a young child: a library card.

Yes, e-books & audio serve a purpose; but nothing like holding one in your hands (while snugged under the blankets with a flashlight).

Well done, again!

Jeff Ikler's avatar

That, and an AM radio turned to WGN and Cubs' night baseball. Who needs TV?

Diane Wyzga's avatar

Little transistor, WMGM 1050 AM, Yankees - TV was vastly over-rated.

Katie DeBonville's avatar

I so identify with this. Beautifully stated.

Jeff Ikler's avatar

Many thanks for reading. Wish I still lived in Boston so I could pop into your book launch. Congrats!

Kay Turnbaugh's avatar

Thanks for giving me reason to continue my penchant for acquiring books that I may or may not ever read!

Jeff Ikler's avatar

"What? You too? I thought I was the only one." C.S. Lewis.

Thanks, Kay. Keep buying!

Julie's avatar

“Don’t worry guys! It’s gonna be fine!”—Red nailed it. What an uplifting journey you took me on. Thanks Bro!

Jeff Ikler's avatar

I love the last line or two, which go something like. "Everyone thinks we fixed him, but the truth is, he fixed us. Maybe we all fixed each other." Thanks for reading and responding, Sista.

Mac Bogert's avatar

Thank you, Jeff.

A hideosity (great gnu word :) of the current corrosion is to sap our will. Our own will. Each moment, maybe each nanosecond, I get to mind - and I mean that as a verb, as in "Mind your manners!" I hope that gave you a frisson of parent memory, btw!

My friend Beth used to say "My first apartment was so small I had to got out into the hallway to change my mind."

I only stop choosing when I choose to. And that choice includes how I demonstrate courage.

If you see something, say something, If you say something, DO Something.

Complicity is not a virtue.

Love you, my brother.

Jeff Ikler's avatar

Back at ya, Mac.