I think everyone has moments in their life that change them; graduation, marriage, children, and even death. These moments change us in large and small ways, but they do change us.
I joined a book club five years ago and it was one of those moments for me. It changed me and in a very profound way. I know this may sound crazy, but I had never read a book for pleasure until five years ago. Yes, I read the required reading in school and the occasional magazine article, but never even considered it as something to do for the pure joy of it. I don’t really know why either. It just happened that way for me.
The first book we read was Jodi Picoult’s, Songs of the Humpback Whale. It was good. We talked about it. We shared our ideas and opinions about the style of writing, the storyline and the ending of course. It was exhilarating for me. I found it so interesting that six women could read the same book and have very different ideas about it. That alone fascinated me. I was hooked. I was officially a book reader and book club card carrying member.
Over the five years, we have shared so many wonderful and a few not so wonderful books together. We’ve sipped tea out of each other’s coffee mugs, eaten brownies we’ve made for each other out on the deck. We’ve watched each other’s children grow, be born and be adopted. We’ve shared our funny vacation mishaps and laughed until the late hours of the evening every month for the last sixty months. It’s been beautiful.
Last night was my last book club meeting (at least for a while) with my favorite people. I’ve decided that it’s time for me to get my feet wet in a new area or two and perhaps try a writing club, a writing class or a photography class of some sort. I need to spread my wings and fly over new places for a bit. It was not an easy decision either. I enjoy it so much and will miss it even more, but in order to make time for something new, I have to give up time somewhere in our busy calendar and this was really the only solution.
I know that I will join back up again one day (if they’ll have me), but for now, I need a change of view and the space and time to give that new view a chance to grow on me.
Being part of this book club has forever changed me and don’t know if these ladies know how much they have touched my life. I have tears in my eyes as I type this. They have given me a gift of beautiful friendship showing me their hearts of gold, support, and invited me into a circle I feel so privileged to have been a part of. They’ve shown me the joy that comes from reading and that has inspired me to share what I have inside my heart through writing and who knows, maybe, one day, we’ll read my book at the April book club meeting. Maybe. One day.
