Book Club and Babies

My book club read a great book this past month titled The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt.  What started as an email exchange between a son and mother, and the curiosity he had about her history, ended up as this truly inspiring, although sometimes tragic, family memoir. We all enjoyed it and would highly recommend!

As an added bonus, one of our members, Barrie, will soon be a grandparent, so, of course, Mimi, our host, came up with the brilliant idea of a surprise baby shower book club (…and the book is about the relationship between a mother & child.) It’s always so much fun, interesting, and never enough time, to discuss a really thought-provoking book…chat about our life events (weddings, moving, new jobs,,etc)…enjoy cocktails, a fabulous meal and then throw in an adorable baby shower.

All those tiny baby clothes brought back memories…as well as oohs & aahs.  At the end of the evening we were all well satiated, with food, friends, anticipation of the next book and the milestones that will be made before we meet again.

Here are some quotes from the book that resonated with me, for one reason or another…

• From Gloria….“It’s true that I constantly need new stimulation, and I know it is exhausting for everyone around me. Impatience is my biggest weakness.”
• From Gloria about her father…“The inescapable longing for something you never had.”  (he died when she was only 15 months old)
• Gloria…“When I am unhappy or dissatisfied, I recall what Virgil wrote, “Perhaps some day it will be pleasant to remember even this.”‘
• Anderson to his mom…“Perhaps the only thing more embarrassing than hearing about your sex life was discovering it was more interesting than my own.” (I can relate..only in reverse!)
• Gloria to Anderson….To quote Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “I love you in ways that are infinite and as in eternity have no beginning or end.” (such a lovely way to express the love we feel for our children)
• Gloria to Anderson...”I must appear to you to be not only very old, but ancient. I assure you, that is not how I appear to myself.” “Inside, however, in our core, past the aches, pains and creaking joints of age, youth still reside. Keep that in mind” (It’s so true that as I get older, I’m still in my 20’s in my mind!)
• Gloria to Anderson...“For I have come to believe that love is all that matters, and I have had more than my share.”
• Gloria to Anderson…“…lovely things can happen when you least expect them….The phone can ring, and your whole life can change in a blink (for better, of course!).”
• Gloria to Anderson...“The problem arises when no matter how successful you become, the rainbow is still not enough. When you think it could always be brighter, and last longer.”  “….it doesn’t last, and it doesn’t take away the feelings of loss and pain that exist in one’s core.”
• Gloria to Anderson…“You’re as good as the best thing you’ve done.”

…and my favorite, and so true…..

• “The rainbow comes and goes. Enjoy it while it lasts. Don’t be surprised by its departure, and rejoice when it returns.”

I love that last one because it’s speaks to gratitude, adversity, resiliency and hope all in one sentence.  Yay…another saying for my walls…just kidding Taylor, I know, enough, enough!!  …but it will become part of the repertoire of affirmations that are always in the back of my mind.

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!