Why & What I Read

From Scarlett

She started from the beginning, with the truth about her marriage. "I didn't love him, at least I didn't know it if I did. I was in love with someone else. And then, when I knew it was Rhett I loved, he didn't love me any more. That's what he said, anyhow. But I don't believe that's true. Colum, it just can't be."
"Did he leave you?"
"Yes. But then I left him. That's what I wonder, if it was a mistake."
"Let me get this straight..." With infinite patience Colum unravelled the tangle of Scarlett's story. It was well after midnight when he knocked the dottle out of his long-cold pipe and put it in his pocket.
"You did just what you should have, my dear." he said. "Because we wear our collars backwards some people think that priests are not men. They're wrong. I can understand your husband. I can even feel great compassion for his problem. It's deeper and more hurtful than yours, Scarlett. He's fighting himself, and for a strong man that's a mighty battle. He'll come after you, and you must be generous to him when he does, for he will be battlesore."
"But when, Colum?"
"That I cannot tell you. I know this, though. It's he that must do the seeking, you can't do it for him. He has to fight himself alone, until he faces his need for you and admits it is good."
"You're sure he"ll come?"
"That I'm sure of. And now I'm to be. You do the same."

Scarlett nestled into her pillow and tried to fight the heaviness of her eyelids. She wanted to stretch this moment, to enjoy the satisfaction that Colum's certainty had given her. Rhett would be here --maybe not as soon as she wanted, but she could wait.



~~~~~~~

If you've ever lived this, or loved like Rhett and Scarlett, well, then the words are so true and right. I've been enjoying my summer journey with them, sometimes savoring and sometimes gulping, once in a while just remembering my own journey.