a good read

This has been my perch for the last six days; in this chair, next to the fire, with this lamp to light my pages. Cold Tangerines was recommended by a friend and bought for me by my mom and dad for Christmas. A Christmas gift to myself, was allowing myself time to just sit and read a good book.

And it was a very good book, one I will most definitely re-read. Each chapter is sort of a short story - I liked one chapter titled "island" so much that I read it (again) out loud to my husband. For me, it was that good. It's a good New Years kind of book. The front cover reads, "celebrating the extraordinary nature of everyday life."

"It's rebellious, in a way, to choose joy, to choose to dance, to choose to love your life. It's much easier and much more common to be miserable. But I choose to do what I can do to create hope, to celebrate life, and the act of celebrating connects me back to that life I love. We could just live our normal, day-today lives, saving all the good living up for someday, but I think today, just plain today, is worth it. I think it's our job, each of us, to live each day like it's a special occasion, because we've been given a gift. We get to live in this beautiful world. When I live purposefully and well, when I dance instead of sitting it out, when I let myself laugh hard, when I wear my favorite shoes on a regular Tuesday, that regular Tuesday is better."
Cold Tangerines, by Shauna Niequist

My wish is that we can all live our best lives this year and in the years to come. Happy New Year!!