<aside> đĄ Some extra thoughts I had this year, but never wrote a full blog about.
</aside>
This adorable interaction between Rick and Josie in the book Klara and the Sun. This scene captures the essence of reconnecting with someone you truly love.
The next day, when the doorbell rang towards the middle of the morning, Josie seemed to guess who it was and, leaving her bed, hurried out onto the landing. I followed her, and as Rick stepped past Melania Housekeeper into the hall, Josie turned to me with an excited smile. But then she made her expression completely blank as she went to the top of the staircase.
âHey, Melania,â she called down. âDo you know who this weird guy is?â
âHello, Josie.â Rick, looking up at us, had on a cautious smile. âI heard this rumor we might be friends again.â
Josie seated herself on the top step, and though I was behind her, I knew she now had on her kindest smile.
âOh really? Thatâs strange. Wonder who put that out there.â
Rickâs own smile became more confident. âJust gossip, I suppose. By the way, I really liked that picture. I put it in a frame last night.â
âYeah? One of those frames you make yourself?â
âTo be honest, I used one of Mumâs old ones. There are so many lying around. I took out a picture of a zebra and put yours in there instead.â
âGreat swap.â
Melania Housekeeper had walked away into the kitchen, and Rick and Josie went on grinning at each other from either end of the staircase. Then Josie must have given a signal, for they both moved quickly at once, she rising to her feet, he reaching for the banister.
This profound quote in De Bois Debout, a french novel I read in September.
âLe pĂšre me disait toujoursâŠla diffĂ©rence entre un acte isolĂ© et une tradition, câest que le premier rĂ©pond Ă la nĂ©cessitĂ©, tandis que la seconde est le rĂ©sultat dâune satisfaction qui se renouvelle.â
Translation: âMy dad would always tell meâŠthe difference between a one-off action and a habit is that the former is a reaction to a need, while the latter is the result of a renewing desire.â
This quote by Doestoevsky in Brothers Karamazov. The quote is a reminder of the irrational nature of humans and makes you question if your actions are as rational as you think.
Fyodor Karamazovâs first wife came from a fairly wealthy family of landed gentryâthe Miusovsâalso from our district. Why should a girl with a dowry, a beautiful girl moreover, one of those bright, clever young things who in this generation are no longer rare and who even cropped up occasionally in the lastâwhy should she marry such a worthless âfreak,â as they called him? I will not really attempt to explain. But, then, I once knew a young lady of the old, âromanticâ generation who, after several years of secret love for a gentleman whom, please note, she could have peacefully married at any moment she chose, invented insurmountable obstacles for herself and, one stormy night, jumped from a steep, rather cliff-like bank into a fairly deep, rapid river and drowned, all because she fancied herself an Ophelia out of Shakespeare. Indeed, if the bank, on which she had had her eye for a long time, had been less picturesque or had there simply been a flat bank, it is conceivable that the suicide would never have taken place at all. This is a true story, and it must be assumed that in the past two or three generations quite a few similar incidents have occurred. In the same way, what Adelaida Miusov did was undoubtedly an echo of outside influences and also the act of exasperation of a captive mind.
Takeaway: Donât invent insurmountable obstacles for yourself.
I will leave it at that. Thank you for reading.
Happy new year to you all.