PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

On this date in 1976, I finished my only final exam for my first term at college, and rewarded myself with a visit to the bookstore (which always kept weekend hours during finals weeks).  I rewarded myself with a cheap paperback edition of Pasternak's novel, Doctor Zhivago.  While I could have returned home to begin the long Holiday break, I dreaded that return:  both because of my parents' attitude, and because of my relationship with BlueShift that I believed my absence at college may have damaged; nearly eleven weeks (without sight of his bare torso, or the fragrance and flavor of his midnight blue socks, and his always inviting smile).  So, after lunch, I settled in to read the novel until my parents came to get me on Tuesday evening.

I share this with you because that novel brought my first real awareness of the Orthodox Faith.  There is not a whole lot of it in the novel, but enough to plant a seed.  What that awkward, stammering, gangly kid read that weekend, and until that Tuesday night, was the beginning of a long process that has led to such a multitude of blessings for me---of which our friendship is a major part.

J-Called