along the driveway the lilacs were in bloom

and there was blood on the tracks

Pardon my recent absence, but along the driveway the lilacs are currently in bloom. New beginnings and all that mush. Also, I have been adhering to the time tested adage, if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.

In a desperate attempt to feel like someone with Reese Witherspoon Book Club taste I reached for People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry. It’s good practice to remind yourself of the things you don’t like. If you’re one for reading hallmark movies, go with god. I truly do not mean to offend.

After a morning of reading People We Meet On Vacation I took to my daily run along the river. Lost in some sort of daydream as I approached the low bridge I had ducked under countless times — mercury must have been in retrograde, or someone had cast a wicked spell on me — because today was different. I ducked nonchalantly but for some reason I didn’t pass through unscathed. My head instantly soaked with blood. As red streamed warm down my face I took my shirt off and assembled a makeshift head-wrap tourniquet.

Now, I tell myself that in that blood soaked moment I knew I was going to be fine. Death, for me, was still an idea, not a steel bridge I had lazily knocked myself headfirst into. But I think for a few seconds I thought that I may just die right there on the tow path.

My life didn’t flash before my eyes. There was no white light or anything like that. Oddly enough my mind shot back to the bookmarked copy of People We Meet On Vacation sitting proudly on display in the middle of my coffee table. No. Let this not be my legacy. Shuffled-off this mortal coil while reading a book written with the sole purpose of being turned into a Netflix romantic comedy. Say it ain’t so.

Think of this episode as a near death experience light. After ten or so minutes of frantic calling and pressing my blood soaked shirt to the wound, I was able to get the bleeding to stop. I hoped I would be able to get home to hide my copy of People We Meet on Vacation before loss of blood left me white as a sheet and passed out on the dirt. I was not about to let my reputation be tarnished by an urge to read a mass market paperback of a friends to lovers story.

Then there was the ER. Then there were the staples in the head. Then there was me finishing the book and realizing it wasn’t half bad. Then there was me realizing that I am going to read every book like it’s my last.