Happy Endings
May 2, 2023 - Thankfully my first fifty years of living with MS were relatively pain free. However, for the last one and a half years pain has been an almost constant presence in my life. Several months into this new reality I was so happy to realize that when reading in a prone position I didn’t feel the pain. I’ll leave a scientific explanation of why to the researchers and doctors. I’m just delighted with what I’m experiencing.
Reading has always been an important element in my life. My husband devoured books, and frequently at gift giving times I could feel the shape of a book under his gift wrapping. Our children could recount the plots of the Narnia books by the time they were five. My grandchildren know that a trip to Grandma’s always includes a trip to the local bookstore. Friends both near and far call me to discuss their latest literary finds.
But pain alleviation was a whole new element in my reading journey. As I discovered that some reading materials didn’t work, I made adjustments and added some new genres to fill the gaps. I just couldn’t focus as well on weighty tomes. I donated, unread, a heavy theological book written by a friend and decided to not guilt myself about it. I could get enough nonfiction by sticking to biographies and books like Dr. Albert Bourla’s Moonshot: Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible. And cookbooks! I’ve always loved to cook and read cookbooks, but five years ago I never would have believed I’d be reading them in bed!
In the past I usually bypassed mysteries (once I outgrew the Nancy Drew series) but I now realize that they hold my attention well. I’ve discovered William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series and wait expectantly for each new Louise Penny Chief Inspector Gamache release. My daughter Colleen introduced me to diverse series by Sujata Massey, Deborah Crombie, and Margaret Mizushima. I’ve learned that some mysteries disturb me to the point where they are counterproductive. If it’s about capital punishment, forget it. And while there are some wonderful books about WW2, I find I can take concentration camp accounts only in small quantities. But a whole new type has been opened for me — “cozy mysteries.” I was unfamiliar with that term but now love them.
To keep me supplied with books I have been blessed by my daughter who works at the Camas Public Library and brings me a fresh stack on her Sunday visits. I frequently email her a title I’ve just come across, and she scours lists of recommended reads. I belong to a book club and those picks lead me to read books I might not choose myself. And the staff at Camas Public Library not infrequently approach my daughter with one they think I’d enjoy. It takes a village!
By Priscilla Hagan, mother of Library Aide Colleen Kawamura
