Oprah's pick portrays true acceptance of a mate

This is the last blog for " Committed" as we are on to our February pick!

But before unveiling the new find I should say that Gilbert skillfully unveiled the art of accepting your partner as they are. She relayed well that part of true love is simply acceptance.

On page 131 she wrote, " Maybe creating a big enough space within your consciousness to hold and accept someone's contradictions-someone's idiocies, even-is a kind of divine act. Perhaps transcendence can be found not only on solitary mountaintops or in monastic settings, but also at your own kitchen table, in the daily acceptance of your partner's most tiresome, irritating faults." As I enter my 23rd year of married life I find this sentiment all too true. I must love him warts and all as he accepts me warts and all.

Well...The February Oprah magazine highlights our new pick and it looks like a great memoir. The title is "Mountain of Crumbs" by Elena Gorokhova. In this work the author describes growing up in Russia in the 1960s. The former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins says Elena has written the "Russian equivalent of "Angela's Ashes" And J.M. Coetzee, the 2003 Nobel Prize winner in literature calls her memoir , " An enthralling read"

Since I am writing a memoir and all of my relatives are from Russia this work peaks my interest. I think it will be valuable to read about the common threads that stretch across culture and continents. I will be blogging in the next few days about this new book and hope to read your comments as we inspire each other to be creative and create yet again.

take care, Leslie