I’m sure that some day we will look back on the last two years and realize we were affected in ways we don’t even see now. I will probably wonder why I didn’t use the long hours of confinement to clean out my closets or learn to crochet, but I suspect I haven’t because these activities are not what my spirit needs. I need books.
How about books that never fail to cheer me? Or at least engage my brain. I see by Google that there are tons of books out now that deal with the pandemic, or past pandemics and plagues, but they are hardly cheerful. I actually like reading about the Bubonic Plague because I cringe and think how lucky I am to live now rather than then. But books that really cheer me up? Here are some. Eloise at the Plaza. Winnie the Pooh. Any book by Dr. Seuss. (How can they even think of canceling him? You can’t read one of his books out loud without laughing.)
They aren’t funny, but I enjoy an occasional re-read of The Maltese Falcon, or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, simply for their cleverness. And I’m starting, at long last, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Perhaps the best of all is a family photo album. Try it. You’ll probably laugh and cry and remember when, but you’ll forget about the current unpleasantness.
Maria Hudgins 