Read, Read, Read

One of best lessons I had as a young woman working at a Children's hospital was from a nurse who was giving 'Rounds'. These rounds happened, weekly or sometimes only monthly.  I wasn't always able to attend as I was taking care of the very sick kids. One of the things that the nurse stressed was something that was taught in her training.  She held up a medicine bottle and said "a very underrated but incredibly important part of our job is to dispense these pills. In doing so we were taught to "read, read, read" three times before administering a drug to a patient." This scrappy little nurse continued, "this isn't just a small factoid, it is literally a method of saving lives." That stuck with me. Paying close attention requires an intent focus and to be very acutely conscious and present for the important things in life.

Along those lines The Checklist Manifesto  by Dr. Atul Gawande makes a strong case to use a checklist in basically every home and business operation to improve outcomes. Checklist are imperative in hospitals and when used religiously do in fact save lives. Also each and every time a pilot flies a plane, she goes through a checklist. A good teacher prepares her students with a checklist of what is expected of them and what they will cover in class.  Frequent reviewing of the goals and expectations help in my field of counseling,

This rule of read, read, read is even important in cooking. For a professional chef this is imperative. Though I have to confess that I am an "eyeball it" and wing it sort of chef but then I'm only pleasing myself and my guests. I do make a practice of reading cookbooks like  they are novels and  from those basic recipes I will rift like a musician or an artist. I could somewhat successfully argue that being a cook for close to half a century makes me confident in what is necessary for a delicious meal, however even if I don't rigorously follow a recipe, I do read, read, read, what is necessary for the dish.

How about using read, read, read for success in life? I ran into a friend of one of my nieces on the ferry a couple of months ago--we were delighted to catch up with each other.  She said, to my surprise,  "you told me something when I was floundering at 18 because I hadn't entered college yet and was so unsure about what to do in my life... You said, just continue to read, and read all the time." I didn't  remember this but I was pleased I had encouraged her to read, read, read because books and reading is so very important in life. Then she continued, " I took the advice to heart and it has helped me throughout my life, in college and with my career."

We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.                                                                                                                    Ursula K. LeGuin 

I don't know what I'd do if it weren't for books.                                                                          Jane Ricketts 

I am a reader and it gives me the greatest pleasure, comfort and solace. Reading has opened worlds to me, to other's dreams and ideas, to sympathies for people I will never met or know, to ones who may not even exist. All four of my grandchildren are readers, blessed by the fact that their parents are readers and read to them at early ages. Now they, and we, continue to embark on the most tantalizing of journeys: the journey into worlds that are different and possibly more complex than our own. Our only equipment we need for these distant ports is our eyes, sufficient light, a comfortable spot, some quiet and lots of snacks. The treats and the treasures await us with the right books and I'm a true believer that those that say "I really don't enjoy reading," just haven't stumbled upon the right books. I watch this phenomena occur before my eyes in my office when I hear that stale retort from clients. I quiz them on where their interests lay and then I throw out about half a dozen titles to try. Always successful? Well, no, but the successes keep me as hooked as one of those dreadful match makers. It's such a high when it does work. Then the love affair can really begin.

I cannot imagine life without books. They are a comfort and a source of information, a place to discover other ideas, lives and dreams. When I had clients who would claim they didn't like to read, I always said, "you just haven't found the right book." To find the right book depends on the person's taste, their circumstances, their history.

Oscar Wilde said, "to love one's self is the beginning of a life long romance" and I believe this is also true with books. Hold them, treasure them, give them, love them and share them, your world will expand and abound.

susansmagicfeather 2020 copyright, all rights reserved, Susan R. Grout

Today I Saved the World

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream.                           Anatole France

Day #24 of Covid 19 isolation.

a lovely art piece that resembles books

I am doing many, many things in my home that are quite unusual. Today I actually dusted and thoroughly cleaned the bookcase on the the stairway landing. In the past, each day I'd stop for a moment on that landing, looking at the dust filled books and sigh, so much dust, sigh, do nothing, then continue down the stairs. Not today. I have a favorite trick to get myself to do an odious task, I tell myself, "I'll do just this one shelf and in only ten days I'll have the entire bookcase cleaned!"

the start of the process, books etc. on the stairs 

This doesn't account for that ADD 911 part of my personality that won't allow me to stop with a reasonable amount of work or cleaning. Also there is the creative part of me that believes, "this would look so much better if I rearranged these books and added some of the pictures, artfully placed between them." And off I go. What I thought would be a quick twenty minute project turned into an hour and a half romp. By noon I had done almost every shelf  [eight, the last two are too high for me to safely reach and Mr. G will have to tackle them]. I was a human dust ball myself and marched out on my deck to de-robe and catch my breath.  In the process of my cleaning binge, I did discover one thing that was literally earth shaking.

Voila, dust free!

I have an enormous fondness for the Earth, our mother. So much so that I have a small but robust collection of globes.  I have the regular size one, four that are bookends and one that I gave away that was a pencil sharpener. When I was diligently attending to cleaning off each book, picture frame and object d'art I discover to my dismay that two of the bookend globes were upside down! Horrors!

I immediately, after I had those little Earths shiny clean again, I turned them right side up. Now the world can breathe a sigh of relief. The world is no longer Topsy Turvy but has been righted, by me. While I may not have the TV ratings, or the ego to go with it, I did turn the world right side up. You can expect great things to start happening soon. Anytime now, very soon.

 Remember who to thank.

susansmagicfeather copyright 2020 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved

Never Break the Chain

A human chain of loved people

And if you don't love me now
You can never love me again
I can still hear you say      that you'll never break the chain.                          Fleetwood Mac

We're all isolated and this is a new reality. This is happening in many parts of the country and all over the world with the Covid19 virus threat.  It's no picnic but I can hardly complain. I'm retired and among the most blessed at this time of crisis in the world. I live in the country on acres of mostly wooded land and I can walk miles right now without running into anyone. My neighbors are also taking the physical distancing seriously, bless them. I'm not a hoarder but a recovering Catholic from a large family and a restaurant family to boot. Food has always been a loved and respected part of my life. Like my Japanese and Jewish friends I have a very well stocked pantry. My husband and sons would laugh at that modest description. In fact the pantry is always stuffed with essentials to see me through for weeks, possibly a year.

I've recently started to Zoom.  Initially this was with my sisters and a couple of guys from our guitar camp and soon will do so with my sons and their families. This is delightful yet frankly leaves me with a longing to embrace all of them. How I delight in those faces, how I miss the physical contact.

All of us are facing isolation differently.  In some cases where people are needing contact, several women who I care about deeply, have sent me requests to offer poems, songs, or inspirational quotes. Doesn't that sound divine? However, all of these request by email or text ask me to forward, cut and paste the information to from eight to twenty [!] women. I'm ask for your forgiveness up front because these are all chain letters of a sort and I swore years ago I would never do that again. I will break the chain every time. I'm notoriously the pill who agonizes but doesn't follow through, hence breaking the chain. I'm sorry to disappoint, but not sorry enough to follow through with the requests.

Listen to the wind blow,

People with lots of stuff in the air

down comes the night                       Running in the shadows,
damn your love, damn your lies
Break the silence,                                  damn the dark, damn the light       Fleetwood Mac

Inevitably the chain mail or texting doesn't feel fun or exciting instead, to me,  feels like a burden. I believe it only encourages people to think I actually like to forward these messages to others. When I think of the woman receiving the chain letter, I imagine, like me, she might just shake her head and sigh deeply with a feeling of dread. Don't know. Fill me in on your opinion, please. Perhaps the rest of the known female population is waiting in anticipation for the next chain mail or text with the opportunity to connect. Want to Zoom or write a chatty email, or send an interesting article my way? I'm your girl.

I'm breaking the silence. I'm not willing to participate in a 'chain' of any kind. I want to thank, and  I  will! all the women who sent me the texts or emails. Seriously, I truly prefer the no obligation communication: I'll send a thank you note and expect no answer necessarily to my thank you note. Otherwise it's thank you for your thank you note, I've been meaning to thank you...etc.

susansmagicfeather  copyright 2020 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved, thank you.