On the weekend before the July 4th weekend, it rained---I celebrated the rain by reading late in the afternoon of Saturday.Guilt free downtime, no need to work around the house, although I did exactly that. But when the rain began I decided to abort the project and move to the porch where I sat and read late in the day. Usually I squeeze in a half hour before falling off to sleep at night.
I dream of a retirement filled with walks and bike rides and books and listening to music-- a contrast to my current work, eat, sleep, walk the dog , work around the house, repeat work , eat, sleep, walk the dog . So in the midst of that comes a gift .
My daughter the reader and the trend spotter thought that it would be different type of gift for me. She had earlier introduced me to SERIAL.
Serial is a podcast which had examined the story of a young man convicted of a killing in Baltimore. The storyline made no conclusions as to his guilt or innocence , but they did tilt toward his innocence. It was interesting and provocative and it ended without any resolution. It apparently did produce a situation whereby a review of the evidence will take place.
But the real attraction was this whole idea that someone could tell me a story as I listened over the course of days or even weeks and months. As a follow up to the introduction to SERIAL, which became hugely successful, I was gifted with Audible. I can listen as I drive, I can listen as I walk the dog, I listened as I worked in the yard over the weekend.
Audible is an amazon company and it primarily deals with books. The very same daughter had pronounced a book, Heart of the Sea, as the single best book she had ever read. She left the book home for me to read, with the advices that she wanted to re read it.The story which is the basis for Moby Dick recounts the tale of ill fated voyage of the Essex out of Nantucket. Loaded with historical fact, you learn more about the nature of the trade than can be imagined. Going back to 1820 or thereabout, you learn that these people spent years on a voyage.
Needless to say it was captivating when I LISTENED to it, that is right I HEARD it, I did not read it. It came across through my ear buds on my smart phone. It was storytelling at its best. I thought that is probably how people reacted to radio in the early days of that medium. They hunched around the beehive radio and listened to stories and serials being told. I began to understand how it was that Orson Well's War of the World captivated and panicked a listening audience. The story becomes real as a narrator tells you the tale in personal terms. Ron Howard is making a movie of this story, it is set for December release. I no movie goer will break free to see this one. I can not recommend this book too highly. I even have to concede that my daughter was spot on with this recommendation.
Well I finished that listen and I was hooked. My next venture into listening was a disaster, worst narrative ever. Some crap about mindfulness. I do believe that there is a basis for mindfulness and focus and attention to one's environment and surroundings. But this was just nonsense narrated by an annoying British accent. It was short, thankfully and they refunded my money. So I chalked it up and thought that maybe this Audible thing was not going to be the next intermittent windshield wiper.
Those not knowing should be aware that man's greatest invention is not the wheel, the microwave oven or even indoor lumbing....it is the intermittent windshield wiper....of that I think you will all agree.
But then I took yet another chance. My selection is THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN , GARTH STEIN.
Do yourself a favor, read it or better yet listen to it. you will laugh , you will cry, you will be saddened. You will be glad you invested in the effort to find it . You may find an audio version at your local library so you can listen to it in your car. And if you are feeling that you are worthy of a little treat do it with audible. One thing I have learned of late is that I am deserving of a little self pampering, I think it has come from the realization that time is fleeting and I have now worked for over 50 years and out of that work I am deserving of some enjoyment. If you were to examine your own situation I think you would agree with that about yourself. You have worked, you have raised your children, you have gone the distance. Be kind to yourself, it is summer. Take a rest you are deserving.