The book is very interactive and is famous for encouraging "Morning Pages." These are pages we write every morning - whether we want to or not.
Today I got out one of my notebooks filled with morning pages from about 20 years ago. It's mostly stream of consciousness and not very interesting. I have carefully ripped out and shredded every page because they're a personal glimpse into my mind and heart at the time.
I did save a couple of pages. They were written in 2002 when I was caregiving my husband, Ken. He passed away in 2004 after a long, long goodbye. Serendipitously, as his body and mind wore down he became strangely content - for the first time in his life.
Last night Ken sat at the dinner table trying to eat our usual Saturday night roasted chicken dinner. But his hands were flying akimbo. Getting the fork to his mouth was an adventure. Lifting his water glass without jerking the contents all over the table was near impossible.
After dinner he went to the other room and fetched the book he'd been reading, A Patriot's Handbook, with songs, poems, stories and speeches celebrating America. Ken sat back down at his place at the table and began reading to me from a portion of the book about "Shakers."
He read...."The members were known for their trembling produced by their religious intensity - hence the name "Shakers." Shaker communities gave up their worldly possessions and lived a celibate and austere life concentrated on God."
Then Ken closed the book and said "This certainly describes me."
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