April 3, 2017 PLEASE FORGIVE ME

Went on my first long run this weekend--8 miles. Getting ready for the Mystic Half Marathon--CAN'T believe it's only 6 weeks away. Races have a way of sneaking up on someone who's--always in DENIAL. I literally had to talk myself into the LONG run because I had to go SOLO--one comrade has been sick and the other has a fractured ankle. The run went well though. Perfect running weather--sunny, breezy about 44 degrees. For me, it's all about the weather.  Last time I ran in Mystic it was for the 10K a few years back.  I was definitely ready for that race--I felt good and was running well. The race turned out to be a TORTUROUS experience though!! It had been in the low 50's leading up to the race--decent weather--but on the day of the race it was hot and humid like a day in August. It was with a HUGE sigh of relief that I turned to the 10k finish line--I don't think I would have been able to do 13.1 in that heat. I don't seem to tolerate the heat as well as I once did--another getting older thing I guess. Hey, as long as I can keep getting out there--run my best--it's all good! Queenie the main character in  The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey isn't so lucky.

This wonderful novel is the sequel to the International bestseller The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. In this novel, Queenie is in a hospice in Northumbernad waiting for Harold to arrive. He is walking all the way from Devon--a journey of atonement.  Harold is exhausted, blistered and weak from his travels much like  Queenie who is withering away day by day waiting for Harold. Queenie does not have long to live and fears that she may die before Harold arrives. A nun suggests that  Queenie write him a letter just in case. She also volunteers to help Queenie tells her story. Queenie has much to atone for too.  She needs  to wipe the slate clean and confess the truth to Harold before she dies. She has secrets  that Harold need to know--one involving his mentally unstable son, David, -whom Queenie befriended twenty years before. She knows things about David and his death that his family needs to know. Interweaved in this lovely novel are  other hospice patients and the nuns that take care of them. They are interesting characters and really give the book--a sense of humor--which one needs when reading a book set in a hospice. They also await the arrival of Harold as he has become quite a celebrity. Many residents hope that they too will make it until Harold arrives and even place bets. This is a  sequel that is as beautifully written as the first. Queenie and Harold are "everyman"-- imperfect people who keep secrets and  hide from the world in shame and condemnation. They are both characters who deserve forgiveness and freedom from their own self-doubt. Find out what ultimately happens to Queenie and Harold when you read this 400 page novel. Oh yeah-there is a shocking twist at the end that I didn't see coming. This easy read--about a 5 mile run--is unforgettable.