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Monthly Archives: January 2019

A Mary Oliver Story

19 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by itsaphanlife in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

books, Mary Oliver, poetry, reading

Here is a Mary Oliver story for you.

One summer many years ago, when I was starting my first year in college and trying to figure out who I would become, my mom and I stayed in Cape Cod for cheap at the home of a friend of hers from medical school.

Our first morning there, my mother woke up at dawn for a walk on the beach and asked me if I wanted to come. I groggily, grumpily, told her no, preferring to sleep in. I was at the age when one gets angry at being pulled along to family vacations, when there are more important things to do than take a morning walk with your mom. I had brought some paperbacks that I wanted to get through and had stayed up late the night before reading them, in part to not deal with possible conversations or forced chatter with my mom’s medical school friends.

An hour later, just as I was waking up from slumber, my mother came in, all smiles and sun happy.

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Still life with 4 books I read in America over this long winter break (vertical) and 4 books I bought there to bring back to Vietnam (horizontal). Loved Bliss Montage, All That's Left Unsaid, and many of the stories in Afterparties, liked/appreciated Useful Phrases for Immigrants. Wrote a longer review of All That's Left Unsaid that'll be on @weare_dvan soon. Trekking round Manhattan #bigapple New York City continues to be the best city for reuniting with old friends. #nyc #brooklyn Trekking around Boston, Harvard, Boston Commons, and showing my wife my old hometown in winter. I actually missed feeling this level of cold! #winterinboston Fun with our niece Alanna on our last days in Florida. Can't wait to have our own...we think... #funwithbabies Beach hopping and night market shopping around Sarasota and Venice, Florida #beachesoflorida In spite of the fact that Trump and Desantis both reside in this state, Florida's been A-OK with us! #florida #summerinwinter Back in America. For this visit, our family has expanded by two! #floridayrusocold #florida

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