The People We Keep - a novel about chose family
by Allison Larkin
When I open my eyes, everything is blurry. I blink until my vision clears. Margo is sitting in a chair next to the bed holding my baby. He's a little bundle tucked safely in the crook of her other arm, wrapped in a white and yellow blanket, wearing a tiny blue hat. An entire person, outside my body, and all I want to do is hold him…
"I was going to call you," I say. "I didn't mean to-"
"You don't get to disappear anymore. You can't go running off into the woods like a wounded deer. You lean on me when it hurts. That's what we're here for to lean on each other." Margo nods like we've made a pact.
I nod too.
It is so warm, the three of us, huddled on the bed. The room smells like summer. There are flowers. Lots of them. On the nightstand, on the windowsill.
"Did you go crazy in the gift shop?" I ask.
"Carly and I called all your friends in your notebook to tell them you had the baby. I thought they'd want to know. And then these started showing up."
There are daisies from Arnie and roses from Cole. All the girls on staff at Ollie's in Florida sent lilies. Slim sent a basket of violets. And there's a big vase of sunflowers. I wonder where anyone gets sunflowers like that in November. Margo tells me they're from Irene and David and July. She says July wants to meet her nephew and they're all coming to visit me tomorrow. For once, the idea of seeing Irene doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world.”
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin pg. 339… 342
Invitation: “…to lean on each other.”
More about Allison Larkin and her work HERE.
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"You lean on me when it hurts. That's what we're here for to lean on each other," is a pivotal exchange in Allison Larkin's novel, The People We Keep. While the language "to lean on", or "to lean in" seems contemporary, the concept is of interconnectedness, and yes, interdependence is an ancient one as we have discovered that our ancestors learned to survive together and within the natural world. In this turbulent political era, may we learn to lean on each other, to lean in, and be of support to those around us. And, to offer solidarity and prayers for those who are vulnerable around our country and world.