My Turn

It is my turn to host the book group tonight. We have been meeting almost every month for 35 years and have seen many changes.

There were eight of us originally, all women, but we lost one member a few years ago to cancer which leaves just seven of us to soldier on. There have been family bereavements, health issues and divorces amongst our number over the years. Our once small children have grown up and become parents themselves making us grandparents to a prodigious number of grandchildren ranging from the ages of 23 to just a few months.

Now that even our youngest member is retired, you might think it would be easier to arrange a meeting date, but not so. With empty nests and more leisure time, it seems we have taken to travelling. Whether it’s holidays or family visiting, it becomes harder and harder to arrange a suitable meeting date.

The cake has been made, the book has been read, the house has been dusted and I am ready to welcome my fellow bookworms.
The book is a novel based in Helensburgh during two periods of time -while the poet Wystan Auden lived there as a school teacher for a year and in the present with a young newly married couple and their baby. I’m not always enthusiastic about our book choices, but this one was a good read. I only hope the cake also gets the thumbs up.