Back Home Again...

Back Home Again...

Four days and 1,600 miles later I'm not on the banks of the Wabash, but I am close as I'm going to get for a while.

My ride back from Montreal was greased by an audio edition of "Small Wonder", Barbara Kingsolver's book of essays wrestling with 9-11. The tape was read by the author, at just the right pace. Was it my imagination, or were there times when she was fighting back tears?

I've enjoyed her novels, so it didn't really come as a surprise that I found myself identifying with so much of what she said. From food supply and simple living, to the most articulate alignment of pacifism and dissent with patriotism that I've ever heard, to reflections on hope in what all too often seems like a hopeless time, I couldn't stop listening to it. It was an inspiring way to pass all that windshield time. The essays on gardening fit hand in glove with "The Omnivore's Delemma", another book I'm reading (when I'm not driving).

And I only took one wrong turn because I was too caught up in an essay.