As should be expected, I left a piece of my heart in Malibu. I didn’t want to come back to West Texas, but responsibility beckons.
Last weekend, I attended Waves Weekend at Pepperdine University. This year was targeting 1990s alumni (that’s me!) and there were lots of special faces that returned to the ‘Bu to reminisce and celebrate with us. Additionally, I was asked to coordinate an alumni coffeehouse to close out the weekend on Saturday evening. While most of the music wasn’t my typical rep, it was exactly how I stretched my wings as a collaborative pianist and music director while I was at Pepperdine, so it felt very natural to agree.
Were there challenges? Absolutely! Just lining up performers and rehearsals from Texas was a challenge in and of itself. But if I hadn’t had the responsibility of performing, I probably wouldn’t have made the trip back to California. There never seems to be a convenient time to leave work if I’m not performing or recruiting students. So I had to steal away from the reunions for a few hours to grade a few submissions, but nothing too daunting.
Am I glad I went? Absolutely! There is really nothing quite like spending time with cherished people who poured into my life during some formative years. Hugs with Hung, Bob, Stuart, LaJuana, Scott, and Kim lingered as I soaked in their love. Spending time with men and women who did life with me on campus for six years as friends, musicians, and fraternity brothers cannot be given a price. (Oh how I treasure the time I got to spend with Jessica, Andy, Amy, Jen, Alan, Ben, Tim, Natalie, Gina, and Brian Lee….as well as lots of others!) Sometimes I think I forget just how much I need to be in a safe space with people who know me best and love me most. These people are my family…and it felt as though we just picked up as though we were still roaming the halls of Pepperdine as we did 30 years ago. My heart is so full!
Besides traveling and seeing friends, I also managed to get some significant reading done. And that’s what we are here to talk about, right?
What I Finished This Week
Returning to Eden by Rebecca Hartt. For the flight, I decided that I wanted an ebook to read on my Kindle that I could easily come in and out of as the weekend went by. Hartt’s novel is the first in the Acts of Valor series and was listed as a Christian thriller. I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised. The story centers around Jonah, a navy SEAL who was taken captive when a mission went south. After a year of being gone, he is presumed dead and his wife and step-daughter have begun to move on with their lives. Then the call comes that changes everything — Jonah is alive, but he has no memory of his wife, his capture, or his imprisonment. Being treated for PTSD, Jonah has a very real sense that his life is still in danger. This gripping novel is a lovely story of transformation through Christ while keeping us on the edge of our seats as we follow the mystery to its chilling conclusion. If you like John Grisham and would like to have something with a Christian worldview, this might be the perfect novel to check out.
What I’m Currently Reading
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (p. 205 of 342). I started reading this novel last week and didn’t get very far. As I kept reading, I found myself struggling through the first 150 pages of the novel. Everything was so depressing as the remaining Blue sisters dealt with the death of Nicky. I am normally fine with dark themes, but these characters seemed irredeemable. I just didn’t like any of them. FINALLY, it appears that the three are going to come together to help each other with their various demons. It seems that the tone and tempo of the book has improved with everyone’s arrival in New York. The chapters are very long in order to maintain a single point of view, but I think the same thing could have been accomplished simply by providing big headings and breaking the chapters into smaller, digestible chunks. I’m ready to see how this one is going to end and hope that I will keep up the progress that I’ve made this weekend.
There you have it! Happy reading, y’all.
~Kennith
Reading for Me 