Book Notes

I write personal notes in some books.

While it might be obvious to take notes in school books (underlining equations or scribbling thoughts about the changing voices in Light in August or something) I have a habit of writing some journal-like notes in books that I'm reading. Most of the time it's to remember a scene when I was reading a book.

For instance, in One Hundred Years of Solitude, I wrote, "In La Vela de Coro. These grandmothers in their colonial house remind me of this family..."

I documented a first date in a book of poems.

In a book called Earth Poems, which was a gift that I carry with me everywhere, I wrote about a lesson I learned while working for a wilderness therapy program. I wrote it below a poem by Harriet Kofalk, which begins,

"Awakening in a moment of peace
I give thanks to the source of all peace..."

Somewhere in the middle: "my feet touch the grass still wet with dew and I give thanks..."

The last stanza: "you can see forever
when the vision is clear
in this moment
each moment
I give thanks."


I was impatient on that trip for some reason and wanted to remember it.

I wrote, "March 10th, Wednesday. New Beginnings. Selflessness. Letting things flow and not forcing... Lime Creek. Hans, Katie, Young White Dolphin and Perseus Rising."
.....
It is a good memory to put next to that poem. It makes me laugh that we gave those boys those trail names. Perseus Rising I thought was a pretty awesome name, actually, given to a stubborn but strong boy. Young White Dolphin got his name because he was so pale, apathetic, innocent and thin... he made me think of the definition of wan. He was a sweet boy, though, so we wanted a happy animal. My co-instructor, Hans, had a great sense of humor, so we decided to name him Young White Dolphin... the Dolphin of the Desert for short.
....

What notes would I write in A Year to Live to remember today?