I have been really enjoying this book recently. Joy....for beginners. I would say I am a beginner in learning how to experience joy, maybe we all are? This book reminds me that I am still a beginner (though I often don't choose to admit it) in the experience of joy. The premise of this book stirs me and invites me to experience joy and to take risks I had never dreamed of taking.
The book starts out with a dinner party of 6 close friends who had spent the last 18 months supporting their friend Kate while she battled a life threatening illness. The book starts out describing Kate's victory party, These women had joined Kate in the trenches of this awful and frustrating fight and along with her, rejoiced in this victory, she had won the fight! They are all left with a deep friendship which they would not exchange for anything else in the world-this is what life is all about right?!
So Kate is given a new lease on life- for those of you familiar with my story, this happened for me on Good Friday in 1995, I was 11 years old, probably why this story hits even closer to home. In this book, Kate is is challenged by a older, wise friend Marion to go white water rafting with her teenage daughter that year. Kate is reluctant and fearful of this to say the least, but is encouraged by those friends around her that join in a pact, If Kate will face the rapids, each woman will do one thing in the next year that scares her.
What a beautiful, risky and hopeful pact to enter into. Kate gets to pick each of the "challenges" which each woman will face. Kate knows each woman well enough to know which risk would be the most joy filled and life giving to each.
Kate challenges one busy mother of 3, Sara, who formerly dreamed of traveling the world to take a trip on her own to a different county. Sara finds herself on the streets of Venice, seeing the world through refreshed and awakened eyes. On this trip, Sara realizes that she hadn't really looked at the sky in years, her line of sight never going above her children's heads and always looking to make sure one of them didn't trip on something down below them. This woman begins to make space for herself amidst the busyness of a life where she has trouble escaping the weight of other people's expectations, the heaviest of which are her own.
Kate challenges one friend, Hadley, who lost her husband unexpectantly to a car accident to do some landscaping in her yard. Hadley's view from all the windows in her house were covered in ivy; all the herbs, flowers and vegetables which were thoughtfully planted in the backyard by the house's former owner had been covered up. As a result of this yardwork, Hadley's yard and her life is filled with light and hope which she didn't believe was possible, she discovers a manner of knowing someone by looking into the intricate details of how they plant their garden. Hadley finds the strength to begin to heal; she becomes a student of those around her and is no longer lost within herself with grief.
Above are just two of the remakable stories which this pact leads to. I haven't finished the book yet and though I am eager to read more about the redemption in Kate's story, I am also trying to leave myself the space to think and dream about what this story may be urging me to do.
Where have I lost sight of joy? What risk would draw me to dig deeper inside myself for strength such that I would experience a joy and depth in this life which I have not yet experienced? I am grateful for a husband that propels me to take some of these risks, friends that encourage me...
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