the mermaid chair...

Well, i've just stayed up for the last two and a half hours, reading through my sleepiness, and eventually, my tears. I needed to finish this book. It's called "The Mermaid Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd. Here I am with tears in my eyes, both for the beauty and sadness of the story's ending, and for that fact that Kidd's words have ended, and I won't wake up in the morning, earlier than planned, just to get glimpse on the page into Kidd's vivid imagination. She threads the words together in ways I can't imagine being able to do. She expresses and feeling, a smell, a moment in time, a fleeting thought--in a way I can only compare to that incredible feeling of being moved my music, that endorphin rush that leaves you confused as to whether to laugh or cry. I'm blessed to have had so many of those experiences, and to have granted them to others. It's so beautiful to witness other art forms in that same, familiar way. I wonder if that's the way some people feel when they look at paintings. Or buildings. Or nature. Or see their children born.

Sue Monk Kidd, you're my heroine tonight. Thank you for taking me on this journey through your words. It's been so sincerely my pleasure.