Gibran, Happiness, Christmas and #Amreading

Sorrow and happiness are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other.  In fact, when our life is all one or all the other we’re not being realistic or honest with ourselves. We’re either depressed or euphoric. In any case, we are living in an imaginary world.

There’s not much we can do about it, except try to look at and accept the bigger picture. It doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a beautiful moment or feel sad when a tragedy occurs. It means we need to accept that both are inseparable and complimentary.

For example watching my grandchildren open their Christmas presents is a joyous moment and watching them cry when they’re ill or upset is sorrowful, but both experiences are part of the same reality: love for my grandchildren. If I didn’t love them, I wouldn’t feel happy or sad for them. It’s a package; to enjoy one we need to accept the other.

The former was a simple example, unfortunately, sometimes it’s not so easy to see, understand, or make the connection and we imagine the bad or good feelings are singular, so they will last forever, well, they won’t. We really need to come to terms with this idea, or we can get stuck in an absurd mirage.

Last night I read a book that made me think a lot about how this can happen in unexpected ways. How we need to look for the intimate relationship between happiness and sorrow in order to understand, accept and move on.

But first things first, you are probably wondering what I was doing reading a novel on Christmas Eve. We had an early dinner after a very busy day. We, were my son, my husband and my mother. The rest of the family, including my beloved grandchildren couldn’t be with us this year, but ‘worry not’ as Jane Eyre would say, I’ll be seeing them all tomorrow 💗 Last night I couldn’t sleep, so I opened my kindle, sat in bed, started a novel and finished it, and I’m so glad I did.

I decided to look for a sweet romance with a Christmas theme. I picked up Three Nights Before Christmas  (Wild Montana Nights Book 3) by Kat Latham. Information about this romantic novel popped into my inbox through JustRead.It and Book Bub.   The cover was nice, the blurb sounded intriguing and it was on offer, so I gave it a try,

Three Nights Before Christmas has an original approach to a typical Christmas story. Lacey is a freight train engineer who was hanging out with the wrong boyfriend. He used her to transport the pot he grew and sold illegally. The novel starts with Lacey on a tough women’s prison being granted parole after doing 3 years of an 8-year sentence.

Back in her home town, in rural Montana, a few weeks before Christmas, she’s living and working with her only brother on his Christmas tree farm. She’s prepared to work hard and make a fresh start, although she was wrongly accused and imprisoned. Austin, The forest ranger who arrested her, has to make sure she’s on the straight and narrow with regular visits, but he also needs her help in a special project related to children in need.

You guessed it, the man who helped put her in prison is going to help her recover her profession, love of trains, faith in herself and trust in others.

It’s a happy ever after romance, so there are no surprises, but the way in which Lacey recovers her self-esteem, life and hope in the future was a pleasure to read. This wonderful heart warming experience took me less than 4 hours to read, and I slept like a happy log after this optimistic experience.

Austin is Lacey’s two sides of the coin. He causes her darkest moments and yet makes her believe in herself again. She made some mistakes in her past, and she is offered a second chance. This novel is about survival after tragedy, the power of love, the need to forgive, and the value of friendship and love over prejudice and injustice.

It’s not a masterpiece, but I really needed to read this novel last night and I’m really grateful to Kat for writing it because it was the right time to read it.

I absolutely agree with Emma Thompson, but I don’t think it has to be a great book, any book which makes you happy and makes you think is a book you need, and to find the book you need at the right time, is a magical moment. Life isn’t made up of mind-blowing moments, who could cope with that? It’s made up of wonderful, little moments.

Hope you have plenty of wonderful little moments this Christmas 🙂