I've learned a few things about myself this summer.
I've learned that I am not a very good solitary being. I need friends and family around me; I need someone who knows if I have come home at night, or if I might be someplace where I might need some help. Traveling with people for a month made it very hard to come home to an empty house.
I've learned that always having a Harry Potter book to look forward to in the distant future leaves a huge void when there is no longer a book to look forward to in the distant future. Yes, I am a month shy of my 41st birthday (and Harry Potter is meant to be a children's series), but I know enough about myself and 38 years of reading to know that I sometimes get VERY involved in literary worlds and characters, substituting them for deficiencies in my own life or social circles. Harry lives!
Most importantly, I have learned that 10-1/2 years of book group in my life has made me sometimes take for granted the friendships, conversations, and mostly good (no, great) books that we have discovered together. I have had a mostly unsettling summer, and one of the reasons has been the absence of a book group meeting to look forward to, and an interesting book to read that I would probably not have otherwise picked up. I think book group has become one of the north stars in my life, and I am adrift without it. I don't think that we should take any more hiatuses, unless someone in the group wants a second job as my new shrink.
I NEED BOOK GROUP!
