Sunday, April 22, 2012

Day One Hundred Thirteen: "Little Nightmares, Little Dreams" by Rachel Simon

Resignation. Hesitation.

An aging couple develops a plan to dream together and the story tracks the afternoon when the two plan to actually go through with it. Filled with memories the couple shared and moments that may seem small unless they are the moments shared between two people who love each other, this beautiful story is full of detail, both bittersweet and sweet. The fear they both have about death, about the change it will mean to both of their lives is examined in a subtle and touching way that will make any reader shed a tear or two.

This is an excerpt from the story that makes this point very well I think:

"Then and now, we keep each other from falling. That's what those talks before bed are about. Holding out our arms as we stumble through life together, working each other loose if one of us gets stuck in a bad situation."

I absolutely love this image of an elderly couple so in love with each other that they are still trying to find ways to be closer when from the story, they seem inseparable and content and very much alive and at peace with themselves and their age. I'd read this writer over and over and I look forward to finding more of her work.

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