Monday, July 2, 2012

Book club

DSCN7358I haven’t had time yet to write a farewell tribute to my wonderful delightful awesome fun-loving book club gals in Durham, but it needs to be written.

I didn’t always go to this book club.  When I moved to Durham there was a book club made of women from both Durham wards that met one morning a month.  It was a slightly older group of women (compared to the D2 group where I was old enough to be the mother of most of the other members) and there was a lot of focus on hosting & fancy brunch preparation.  I enjoyed my time in this book club, but eventually it faded away and I was without a book club. 

One of the young moms at church had started a book club in our ward, but I wasn’t interested in going because her book club was at night and I was just exhausted every night.  Finally my sweet visiting teaching companion and the book club creator ganged up on me and flattered me until I gave in and agreed to come.

And I loved it.

Loved it.

Loved it.

(Did I mention that I loved it?)

Since that ego driven decision all those years ago, book club has been one of the highlights of my month.  A couple of years after I started attending the organizer moved from our ward and eventually I picked up the organizational responsibilities of running the book club, helping to tally votes to pick books each fall, sending out reminder emails each month, and almost never missing a month.  For the last couple of years in September I hosted at my house and made chocolate fondue for the dessert.  We’d quickly discuss that month’s book and then move on to suggestions for the next year.  Each year I’ve been delighted to see the variety of books selected and thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

Some of the husbands joke that it’s really not a book club, but that’s not true.  We almost always had a great discussion, usually 45-60 minutes.  It was fascinating to hear everyone’s perspective, opinions, and insights each month.  And then when we were done with the book…well let’s just say that at that point the night was still young.  There was no predicting what the topics of conversation of would be on any particular night—sometimes the topics were spiritual, sometimes practical, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always interesting.  I have probably never laughed as hard in my life as at book club.  You know the ugly cry?  Well in book club I often experienced the ugly laugh—the one where you’re laughing so hard you’re crying and you just know that your face is twisted into amazingly grotesque contortions and you just hope that everyone else is laughing so hard that they don’t notice. 

Almost every month I left my house for book club thinking that I was probably too tired for book club that night.  And every single month I left book club and drove home with a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness. 

When I realized that we were really and truly leaving Durham I knew that our book club was going to be one of the things that I would miss the most.  I asked if we could rearrange things so that I could host our last meeting before I left, and yes, I made chocolate fondue.

It was the perfect night.  A great group of gals, an interesting book to discuss, all that chocolate, and (as you will see) a never to be forgotten ending.

At some point during the evening they pulled out a surprise from everyone—Lindsay had bought the most beautiful book of photographs of North Carolina.  I was so excited, and even happier to read the sweet messages that all of my friends had written in it.  I would include a picture of it but I forgot to grab it before the packers came a few days later and now it’s in storage. I know I’m going to cherish it forever, though—so many splendid images of North Carolina, and so many expressions of love.

Around 11:30 half of the group left and those of us left just kept talking.  We talked and talked and talked.  About 1:30, someone noticed a spider run out from under the sofa.  Audrey tried to trap it in a plastic cup, but it was too fast for her.  Becky, being the only one with shoes on, offered to step on it.  Audrey mentioned that it sure was a fat spider.  Just as Becky walked over to step on it, Lindsay started talking about this one time when she was a kid and she stepped on a really fat spider on her driveway and it just exploded babies.  And then, in a moment we couldn’t have been any more hideously perfect if we had scripted it, Becky stepped on the fat spider and then shrieked, “It exploded babies!!!”

Pandemonium ensued.  Or at least that’s what it sounded like—I was too busy running for the Raid to be paying super close attention.  By the time the baby spiders were all sprayed, the mother spider had disappeared under the tv cabinet, and I had vacuumed back and forth about a million times, the party had pretty much broken up and everyone went home. 

But oh my, what a way to go out!

Ladies, I will always love you and cherish the memories of our time together.  Katie and Lindsay, thank you for convincing me to come!  And yes, I will always remember that what happened at book club (besides the exploding spider) stays at book club.  Thank you for sharing the very best parts of yourselves with me!

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(and thank you Kim for bringing a camera!)

4 comments:

  1. You're welcome:). And- exploding babies!? I don't know if I'll ever be able to step on a spider again!

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  2. That was most definitely an unforgettable night! Have you thought about starting a book club in your new ward? No better way to get to know people on a much more intimate level than by staying out past midnight together. :)

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  3. Hey, Cindy! Can I just say that I am flattered to be referred to as "a young mom in the ward." I don't think of myself as a young mom any more, and I've never had a book club as great as the Durham Book Club.

    Something about the air in Durham I suppose...

    But it is crazy to look at that picture and only recognize you and Lindsay!!! Boy, the ward must have changed in five years!

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