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Pamela Pérez | The Long Table's avatar

The color-coded book-sharing, the margins filling up with initials and quips — "the Flintstones version of today's comment thread, only nobody was an asshole" — I loved that. The staying, the talking after, the part where the book becomes something shared. And that question of word magic — how words written thousands of years ago still reach across and speak straight to you — is the whole reason some of us fell in love with language in the first place. This was a joy to read.

That's What She Said's avatar

You brought back some great memories of hanging with my theater friends in a big house we rented. Oh, and when the phone rang on Sunday around 5 pm, everyone would announce in unison, "that's Barb's dad."

Epstein Irwin's avatar

Like a hit of pure oxygen.

Deepa Paul's avatar

"A fractured narrative lets some light in, and even if the full reconciliation of all parts of being a person in a body is impossible, the effort is not; it is everything." I love this. Thank you for sharing the joy and meaning you found in such a special time in your life. We should all be so lucky to have a pocket of existence like this, shared with people like these.

Michele Miles Gardiner's avatar

Beautifully written.