A great combination of words

I just finished reading "Truck: A love story" by Michael Perry. It is a great read about a man and his journey through the trials and delights of rehabilitating a 1951 International Harvester L-120 (or -122 depending on your model knowledge) pickup. However, the book is about much more. It is about his journey through love and life for that year. He is a delightfully sentimental man - I mean that in the very best of terms as I share his love of the simple and nuanced - taken by the love of a good woman, his family and friends, and an old truck. It is a good read. We don't agree on all aspects of life, but I certainly appreciate his use of the English language to portray his time.

I write all of that to get to just a couple of items I want to share with you from the book. The first is from early in the journey, March to be exact, when he is in his basement preparing for his spring garden while listening to NPR. The radio personality was recapping the trouble in Rwanda. Michael was happy with his sweet little spot, but "humbled by the fact that my gratitude alleviates no one's misery." Wow. I know he is not saying to be unhappy in my blessings, but to be mindful that I am, in fact, blessed. It is something I try to keep in mind but it is good to be reminded from time to time. I read that sentence and immediately dog earred the page.

Later in the book, in "the new year," the author has met a woman, fallen in love, and is on the verge of marriage. After some pre-marital counselling, he is thinking of an essay he read and has this to say about what he thinks in regards to a line in the essay, "making me all the more grateful that (Tracy) has agreed to walk beside me of her own free will, despite the unknown. That when the day comes for one of us to release the other we will have shared in this life what we dared hope we might." Now, as you will notice, I substituted my wife's name in that quote. Michael's wife's name is Anneliese, but I thought it was a wonderful sentiment and I wanted to personalize it. I hope he doesn't mind.