The Time Will Come
Currently reading:
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Huge shout-out to Em, who asked if I read this one yet and then insisted I take her copy home while we were drinking piña coladas and trying to keep cool in front of her kitchen windows. The only other Taylor Jenkins Reid I’ve read so far is Daisy Jones and the Six, but I love how she writes famous people!
Books finished this week: 1
★★★☆☆
Where this book came from: Green Apple Books in San Francisco, CA
Why this book: I mean . . . cults. C’mon.
Thoughts: I was all in on this one at the start, but as I got deeper into the book, it felt more repetitive, and I realized that reading was starting to feel a bit more like something I had to do, rather than something I wanted to do. I assumed Montell was mentioning some of the "greatest hits" at the start to draw readers in and then would dive deeper into other groups and ideas, but the book mostly continued to feel very shallow. I do think I learned a few things on the linguistic side, but this wasn't as wide-ranging as I thought it would be.
Library updates:
I got a new tattoo this week. I booked it back in March, when things felt a little strange and up in the air for me. Things are still strange and sort of up in the air, but it feels like some things, at least, are figuring themselves out. Maybe the tattoo helped bring some of that clarity and stability——I’ll let myself think it did.
I got the words Le temps viendra tattooed on my left wrist, where I wear my watch. The line is French for “The time will come,” so I thought the watch connection was funny. I also took French for five years in school, though most of it seems to have exited my brain forever, and it’s still a language I deeply love.
But the backstory of the phrase and what I’m choosing to let it mean for me matter more, of course. Anne Boleyn inscribed Le temps viendra (and her signature) into a Book of Hours she owned. I’m not going to claim any kinship or kindred spirit to Anne Boleyn. But I have been fascinated by her since first learning about Henry VIII’s wives, and I find her such a complex figure. Was she conniving? Cunning? Cruel? Simply a woman in love, or an ambitious woman brought down by men who would not——could not——see her thrive? Why not all of the above?
Seeing the spot where she was executed at the Tower of London when I studied abroad in college was a strangely moving experience, and she’s sort of been a figure I’ve carried with me ever since. I choose to think of her as brave, intelligent, and ambitious, all things I’d like to be, as well. So I put her words on my wrist to remind myself of that.
The meaning I’ve ascribed to the words is also something I want to remind myself of daily. Le temps viendra——the time will come. It sort of sounds like a threat and I do have a bit of a short fuse, so maybe it can be a warning to anyone who aggravates me. But what I really mean by it is to remind myself that even if things aren’t exactly as I want them right now, the time will come. I will find a different job, I will write more, I will make new friends and perhaps start a relationship. I will buy a home and plant a garden. I will reach my goals and save money and travel and do so much more with the rest of my life. There is time for it, and that time will come.
Though viendra is the future tense, I also chose to think of it as a reminder of things I’ve accomplished, and encouragement that I can do those things will come. The time came to apply, be accepted, and go to college. The time has come for many trips and past internships and jobs. I’ve written so many words and read so many books and met so many people. Look how far you’ve come. Think of all you can do when the time is right.
Le temps viendra.
That’s the biggest news for this week on the personal front. Work was . . . interesting, too, but I feel like I shouldn’t get into that. I did a good amount of journaling this week.
I also saw Top Gun: Maverick on Friday and it made me emotional.
Closing thoughts:
Whatever it is you’re working toward, your time will come. As will mine.
