February 16 Meeting at Dricka's

Book club this month was on the 16th of February. We read "the Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards. We were a total of seven ladies due to Grace and Pat were away and Roe had a stomach virus plus Pam had a previous engagement. Missed you all!

The book told the story of two families. One was divided by a lie (Norah, David and son, Paul. The other family (Caroline and Al) were united in love taking care of a child, Phoebe with Downs Syndrome who was given to Caroline. When Norah gave birth to twins, Paul and Phoebe, she was told by her husband doctor, David, that that Phoebe had died at birth. But the truth was, David couldn't face a life of sorrow and pain. His own sister died of complications from her disabilities and he saw what devastation of losing her did to his family. Because of this fear, he thought to make up this lie of their daughter dying. The only thing he did was to make a divide between himself and Norah due to his coldness because he had to live with this lie. When he was told to tell the truth to set himself free of his guilt by a friend, he went to his wife's house to tell her the truth but had a heart attack and died before he could. By chance of going thru his belongings, Norah found correspondence from Caroline to David about his daughter, Phoebe. Devastated as she was, she went to see her daughter, Phoebe, for the first time. The story seemed to be enjoyed by everyone!

We had a dinner consisting of Tuscan Garlic Chicken and pot roast with potatoes. Our desserts were apple crisp, raspberry cheesecake, cannolis and chocolate mousse. As full as the ladies were, I talked them into taking home care packages so I wouldn't be left with a lot of food. Carol was nice to bring along valentine candy gifts for everyone. Our next meeting will be at Alice's on March 17th and the book is "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr.

Thanks ladies and love,
 Dricka