An Old Friend

Today was a rare event:  we had a snow day!  In fact, I got the call at about 9:30 last night, so I didn't even have to set my alarm this morning.  It was glorious to stay up late reading, knowing that I wouldn't be shocked out of sleep at 5AM.  My girls and I could sleep in and just do whatever we wanted for this bonus day off.

I wasn't completely lazy.  I went to the grocery store before the storm kicked in to get the ingredients to make beef burgundy in the slow cooker and did several loads of laundry.  I also shoveled the driveway three different times (I'm counting this as my cardio and upper body workout for the day).

But most of the day I spent with an old friend.  Perhaps you know her.  Maeve Binchy?  Ever heard of her?

Of course, Ms. Binchy passed away in the last year or so, and I never knew her personally, but she is like an old friend to me.  Her books are warm stories of friendships, family, and love, and although they seem a bit old fashioned when compared to more modern "chick-lit," I find them to be welcoming and satisfying, much like that stew I had bubbling away in the kitchen all day.

I happen to know that I read my first Maeve Binchy book in 1995 when the movie version of Circle of Friends came out.  I'm a read-the-book-first kind of girl, and so I picked up the paperback, probably at Target, and devoured it over a weekend.  From then on I was hooked... I read my way through my public library's collection of Binchy books and then read each new one as soon as I could get it from the library.

When I heard Ms. Binchy had died, I was sad, as if one of my grandmother's friendly neighbors had passed away.  I was sad that there would be new stories of Ireland to lose myself in.  Then the email came from my library that a copy of A Week In Winter, her final book, was on hold for me.  It is turning out to be a comforting, perfect snow day read.