I regularly read the old Dixie Hemingway books to keep the voice going in the back of my mind, and occasionally I stumble across something that literally stops me in my tracks, like this, from CAT SITTER AMONG THE PIGEONS…
And now another man was in my bed, and I was inhaling him the way I had once inhaled Todd, and it was good and right that he was there. Pain was still with me, but there was more sweetness than pain. New love had come as quietly as cats’ paws, silent as smoke or trickling sand. It had drifted into my consciousness when I least expected it, shoving out memory of old loves, lost loves, hopeless loves, wrong loves, betrayed loves, true love, all fading into the darkness of doesn’t matter. This new love stood alone, marvelous and electric, always believed in but never expected. The lightning it created lit up the universe from eternity to infinity, and lit up my heart from edge to open.
Blaize and John Clement 
My favorite from The Cat Sitter’s Pajamas. Old people are only old on the outside. Inside they’re the same age they were when they first started life as adults
Thanks Marjorie… I like that one too
Love the picture of your mom. So much serenity in that face. I remember one of the last loves she had. I don’t think the affair lasted as long as she had hoped, but it may have inspired that passage. She seemed to take the loss in stride as she did most of the challenges in her life, many of which might have sunk a lesser person.
Hi Clark…. yes, I think you’re right about that.
This is beautiful… but beautiful doesn’t seem to do it justice.
I know. It kind of floored me.
Love all the Dixie Hemingway books, no matter what the content. These are my favourite ‘cozy’ books.
Your mom was hands down my favorite writer. Thanks for continuing Dixie’s stories for us.
Pingback: The Hardship We Accept, The Gratitude We Choose - On Being | On Being
That really goes to the heart of moving on, which you’ve got to do to survive great loss.