I read Billie Lett's novel Honk & Holler six years ago during an English class. I don't remember much about the book, only that the characters were different, and had stories, messed up stories, but somehow it all worked out. What I remember the most though, was the cover. It seemed warm and inviting, but quaint, very quaint. I thought about that book several months ago while driving, because I saw this image just over the horizon on my way to dinner. It was the cover of that book. And in a split second my mind raced back to six years ago, and all the thoughts and plans I had for my life. I wanted to trade in my small town roots for something much larger and more adventurous. I didn't care where or how, I just wanted to cut the apron strings and run. Now six years later I sit at the computer with some of the exact same thoughts. I typically do not divulge my feelings in this particular format. I save that for my thread bare journal with tea stained pages, but today is different. I feel uneasy about life come August. I think much too often about the future and wonder if my apron strings will ever be ripped away. I have difficulty deciding if my aspirations and dreams are just fluff, and if eventually I will be pulled into the reality of this world.Perhaps in August I will drive to Oklahoma and find the now opened Honk & Holler...where the characters are alive and their stories resolved.
