Saturday, October 31, 2009

And You Know You Should Be Glad

"And You Know You Should Be Glad" by Bob Greene

My dad picked this book up for me at the 99 cents store. Now you may think it probably isn't going to be that good if they are selling it for 99 cents. But it was good, surprisingly good. I have a best friend that I cherish and this book reminded me of how precious those friendships are. This book is about two boys becoming friends and the story of their life long friendship. It is a true story and is written when they are in their fifties and one is dying of cancer. The story moved me and I had so many parts that were really insightful. You may not even have to read the book after reading this review!
  • "When you're older, it's much more difficult to ask for help. The instinct to do that has been trained out of you by life." How many times a day do my girls ask me for help without having any reservations? But when we become adults we think we need to do it all by our selves. This reminded me that friends are there to help, and that they want to help.
  • "There would be a brief silence, like an invisible ellipsis, then we would be right back where we were, where we always were." With the best of friends it doesn't matter how long it has been when you see or talk to each other you can just pick up where you left off. I love that.
  • "Fleeting moments of kindness can echo forever."
  • "After half a century, a voice across the miles can say 'Hi.' And you never have to ask. You know. Always." The familiarity of best friends. I love that across the miles I know it is her when I hear her voice. No other words need be spoken, just hi. And from that we can even tell how the other is feeling.
  • "There are a handful of people, during your lifetime, who know you well enough to understand when the right thing to say is to say nothing at all. When the right thing to do is just sit there with you-either in the room, or on the other end of a telephone line. To be there." Hold on to these people, they are priceless.
  • "He was tasting his life. He was savoring who he was, and where he had been, who he had known...he was tasting it with a fierce and pervading kind of appetite." The "he" in this sentence is the man who is dying of cancer. I want to taste life now. Enjoy the moment now.
  • "In most people, you don't notice its absence: Indifference, after all, is usually not visible. When overriding mercy is present, though, it shines like a beacon; when it's there in a person, only then do you perceive how many others lack it, and what a rare and good thing it is." I pray that Christ's mercy shines like a beacon through me.
  • "Life, when you let it, can thrill you." So often we miss the little things and let the worries take over.
  • "The best pictures, the most lasting and most vivid, are the ones you see with your heart. They never fade, and they never get old."
  • "We all, it seems, yearn for something that will let people know we once were here."
  • "I don't know how a man becomes so lucky, so blessed; I don't know what a man does to deserve such a friendship." I feel this way about my best friend. God has truly blessed me by putting her in my life and I am so very thankful.
  • "Friendship doesn't die. This thing that costs nothing, this thing priceless beyond measuring-never ends. No one can take it from you."

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE YOU CORRIE! I MISS YOU SO MUCH! But, the memories that we have and continue to share...are always with me! Can I borrow this book? Thanks for being my best curly haired friend! Love you to the moon!

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