The Books They Gave Me

Vonnegut.

When he heard about my project, he seemed to take it as a challenge.

“I have to figure out what book to give you!”

“Easy, now. This is a first date,” I thought.

But the choice was simple for him—his favorite book of all time. He ordered it and presented it to me the next time I saw him. “Mother Night,” by Kurt Vonnegut. I have begun, but not yet finished, the book; a false start as sure as ours. Some things just don’t quite work.

Still, there is wisdom to gain from every encounter, no matter how brief. Here, I have learned the following:

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

and:

“Make love when you can. It’s good for you.”

Both feel true in the good, clean, wholesome way that you feel when you hear good sense put into simple, plain words. The universe aligns, just for a moment, in a way that mitigates the constant pain and chaos of life. And so it goes…