Books, dreams, and reading at parties: A morning coffee post

Morning Coffee

     This is almost straight from my journal, not my usual sort of post. We were getting ready to go to a party, and my husband was going through all the stages of grief. He really, really hates going to parties. Until he gets there, and then he is fine.

     So we started out with anger, moved on to denial, then bargaining. He was finally starting to pick out clothes. I was already fully dressed and sitting at my desk, waiting for him and reading a novel. I was at the stage where I knew we were going to have to go to the party, and had accepted it. I was thinking about the dream I'd had just before waking that morning: I was at a lively, crowded party, and scattered around the room I saw several people who were sitting, just quietly reading books. That made me so happy.

     Be totally honest. Did you ever slip a paperback into your bag as you left to go to a party? Somewhere inside you were telling yourself that maybe you would find a way to slip into a corner and curl up with your book.

     Introverts have it tough sometimes. It's just an expectation that everyone enjoys gatherings where people get together for almost no reason at all, and stand or sit around and talk to each other. And really, it's not that bad when you get there.

     I knew that my husband would reach the stage of acceptance. That's when we would be in the car actually on our way to the party.

     It happened just like that, too. We got into the car, drove to the party, and had a pretty good time. I had to drag my husband out of there.

     But silent reading parties are a thing now. See below:

Host a Silent Reading Party in Seven Easy Steps (Book Riot)

Reader's Night Out (New Yorker)

     I'm waiting for someone to break the introversion barrier and make it socially acceptable to curl up anywhere and pull out your book....even at a party. It would be a conversation starter, right?