– A Sig Blessing

Last week Karen showed me her new favourite book, “The Inklings of Oxford” by Harry Lee Poe. She beamed at the find – this was a book that she bought NEW, and it was worth it.  One of our best memories of visiting Oxford last year was taking the J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S Lewis walking tour.  I wish I hadn’t been as jet lagged and could have retained more as we zig-zagged to the various sites in Oxford that the Inklings were known to have frequented.  Later in the week we made several visits to their pub, The Eagle and Child.

When Karen handed me the book she said told me to read the first paragraph.

Everyone needs a special place all their own, even if they do not own it. Everyone needs friends who are always  there, even of they are  not there with is. What makes a place special for a person does not  depend upon the place, but upon the person. What makes a person  special is not much the person, but the people who think they are  special: their friends.

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of our trip to Oxford.  Karen has promised to come out of hiding (she’s been quite preoccupied with admiring her new grandbaby) and share some of her memories.  Oxford was a special place for the Inklings and a host of others.

It was a trip of a lifetime for Karen and me. I am blessed by the memory of it.

The Eagle and Child - the Inklings' pub (until the beer ran out during the war)