By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, Joyful Musings
There are constants in my life: prayer, Market Basket toilet paper, Barry’s Irish Tea. And today I muse joyfully on another glorious constant: the bedside read.
As I type this, I am moments away from getting ready to head to a military ball with my husband. My nails are done, my hair coiffed, I have cleaned up rather nicely after a day in socks and Birks.
My footwear tonight is silver sparkly heels with toes so pointy I could do severe damage to anyone in my way. I suspect I will not use these as weapons on the dance floor, but if someone were to take away my bedside read, well I cannot promise that destruction would not ensue.
After I dance and socialize and chat and eat, I’ll come home to glorious covers: those of my bed and those of my current read, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This Man Booker Prize Finalist is a beautiful 900+ pages and I am halfway through.
Being in the middle of a good read is one of life’s greatest pleasures. And while I will enjoy being on the arm of my handsome husband tonight, delight in a dance or two, admire beautiful gowns and suits, the knowledge of a warm bath and a good read will be the secret “happy place” I go to when I may grow a little weary or bored.
A Little Life is so good I am tempted to highlight some of the prose. There is nothing like solid writing.
A friend and I were talking of To Kill a Mockingbird and where we were when we read it. She was in her Waltham backyard on a rusty swing set; I was in a Madrid hotel in 1987 with my mother and sisters. We spoke of how beautiful we found the prose and how we loved how we knew exactly where we were when we read Harper Lee’s classic.
Reads are like that for me: constants. When people say, “I’m too busy to read” I cannot identify. in my world. If I’m too busy to read, I’m too busy to drink coffee, blink, drive. That read at the end of the day is my glorious peace, my grand finale to the life of a day well lived, full and meaningful.
That read allows me to pause, sneak off to another world – and mercifully another world where pop ups and ringtones are absent, where I hear only the gentle turn of a page, a switch off of a lamp. My husband and I have negotiated a phone free, computer free, tv free bedroom which, to me, is peace personified.
So dear Joyful Musers, may you too find your reprieve, your glorious pause at the end of your beautiful life in a day. If it’s a read, do share what it is. And beware, if you take my book, I’ve got some dangerous boots.
Susan Dromey Heeter is a writer from Dover who recently let her hair go au natural white. Writing has been her passion since her English majoring days at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dromey Heeter has lived in The Netherlands, Alaska and currently basks in all things New England, including the frigid winters. An avid swimmer, Dromey Heeter’s great passion is to bring back body surfing as most children have no idea how to ride waves without ridiculous boogie boards.
The opinions expressed are those of the writer. InDepthNH.org takes no position on politics, but welcomes diverse opinions. email nancywestnews@gmail.com