Beautiful Pink Book - Anatomy of a Book

This will be just a short post.

From some of my previous posts, you know how I love and am very grateful for my Pink Book. You probably remember that I gave my daughters, Megan and Jessica, The Pink Book for Christmas, nestled in a lovely basket. The Book shared this basket with an attractive pen holder, and wonderful colored gel pens for highlighting, a baking mix (pumpkin or spice bread), a mug, some assorted herb teas, scissors and paste (for working on the Illustrated Discovery Journal), a ‘golden’ framed mirror, a small journal (for the Gratitude Journal), a spiral-bound 3-hole notebook (for the Daily Dialogue), and an artists sketchbook (The canvas for the Illustrated Discovery Journal).

You might remember that I shared this news with my sister Roni and she decided to start The Pink Book again in the New Year. I learned of my niece Jennifer’s love of the Pink Book, and of her mother’s – my sister Teri. My niece Rachel also expressed some interest. (Later, my niece Alice informed us she had also begun reading The Pink Book – she said it was the one I gave her mother, Sherolyn, my eldest sister). That’s essentially how this blog came about; our desire to share our discoveries and personal ‘ah-ha moments’ – those meditations or devotions that resonated within us.

This book has timeless lessons and wisdom. This book feels good in your hands. It feels good to turn the pages. I hadn’t mentioned that Roni didn’t know where her original book was, so she decided to purchase a new one. She ordered it online. When it came, she found it wasn’t quite the same as the original book. For one, it was updated in 2005. It has some notes added by Sarah Ban Breathnach. The paper is not as high quality – rougher in texture. OK – bummer, but we go on. Not earth shattering.

But one of the saddest things is that it doesn’t have the lovely peach-colored bookmark ribbon attached. My heart was actually saddened when Roni showed me this. Opening the book with this marker was not only convenient but it just felt good. And when finished for the day, replacing it carefully – the end of the ribbon hanging below the end of the pages, the top of the ribbon looped carefully to keep it perfect, the length of the ribbon placed lovingly and smoothly along the crease between the pages - was like a closing prayer of thanks. I love the quaintness of this ribbon, the way it adds to the ‘specialness’ of this book.

Roni will surely be fine reading her book without the peach ribbon. I did give her some charming ‘fairy’ bookmarks, so it’s not like she will have to search each day for her place. I can only imagine that not including the ribbon was a cost-saving measure in this profit-conscious society. Which is just a shame, I think. What do you think of all this?

I love you all. Victoria J Mecham