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Moving
How would you react if your first great love died? Would you get lost in the past? Or would you embrace your present and future? When Maggie Fairway finds out Jane—her first great love—has passed away, she quickly becomes caught up in memories of their short yet passionate time together and loses sight of the present—the wonderful life she shares with her wife Jo and their children. Can Maggie let go of the past before it irrevocably damages their relationship? (Part of Never Too Late - a collection of nine stories featuring LGBTQIA characters over the age of fifty)
41 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 7, 2017
This is a heart-wrenching story about the complicated emotions that arise with aging and the loss of a first love. It's also about coming back together and appreciating the best parts of a loving, long-term relationship.
It can be very difficult to capture the feelings around advancing years and the changes people, especially women, experience in their bodies. It's easy to fall back on having women constantly examining themselves and lamenting their loss of beauty. That is not the way it plays out in this story. Maggie thinks about her physical changes and those of her wife, Jo, but not in a shallow way. Her self-concept is heavily bound in lamenting losses of many kinds
The internal journey Maggie takes is a reflection on what she once had with her first love. Like we sometimes do with our looks, she has romanticized and idealized the relationship at the expense of what she has now. At first, she tries to put it out of her mind, but she can't. It's only when she accepts it for what it was that she's able to fully be present in her current life.
Maggie's feelings are familiar, the longing to recapture youth and have a do-over for mistakes of the past. How she comes to reconcile her history with her now is also familiar. There's no overdone lamenting, just a realistic portrayal of letting memories run away with us.
The writing style is lovely, and there are plenty of steamy moments as well as tenderness and joy and, ultimately, contentment. I felt like I'd become a better person for having read it.
It can be very difficult to capture the feelings around advancing years and the changes people, especially women, experience in their bodies. It's easy to fall back on having women constantly examining themselves and lamenting their loss of beauty. That is not the way it plays out in this story. Maggie thinks about her physical changes and those of her wife, Jo, but not in a shallow way. Her self-concept is heavily bound in lamenting losses of many kinds
The internal journey Maggie takes is a reflection on what she once had with her first love. Like we sometimes do with our looks, she has romanticized and idealized the relationship at the expense of what she has now. At first, she tries to put it out of her mind, but she can't. It's only when she accepts it for what it was that she's able to fully be present in her current life.
Maggie's feelings are familiar, the longing to recapture youth and have a do-over for mistakes of the past. How she comes to reconcile her history with her now is also familiar. There's no overdone lamenting, just a realistic portrayal of letting memories run away with us.
The writing style is lovely, and there are plenty of steamy moments as well as tenderness and joy and, ultimately, contentment. I felt like I'd become a better person for having read it.
December 7, 2017
Editor's Review
Poor Maggie. When faced with the news that someone who was important to us has passed away, particularly when our time with them didn't end well, it's easy to get caught up in reminiscing. For Maggie, it's the loss of her first love, which sparks memories of their incredibly passionate relationship.
I must admit I didn't really like Jane. She was a bit too bolshy for me, but I could see how Maggie fell for her, and how she falls for her again in her grief. First love is profound, perhaps because it happens for most of us when we're relatively young, and we only ever move away from it. It's still always there. To see Maggie trying to recapture the excitement and passion...it's devastating, because she's acting on her loss and in so doing risks losing more - losing everything.
The intimate scenes are perfect explorations of the two different relationships, and I can't really say more than that without giving it all away, but there's enough in here to steam up your varifocals. ;)
Poor Maggie. When faced with the news that someone who was important to us has passed away, particularly when our time with them didn't end well, it's easy to get caught up in reminiscing. For Maggie, it's the loss of her first love, which sparks memories of their incredibly passionate relationship.
I must admit I didn't really like Jane. She was a bit too bolshy for me, but I could see how Maggie fell for her, and how she falls for her again in her grief. First love is profound, perhaps because it happens for most of us when we're relatively young, and we only ever move away from it. It's still always there. To see Maggie trying to recapture the excitement and passion...it's devastating, because she's acting on her loss and in so doing risks losing more - losing everything.
The intimate scenes are perfect explorations of the two different relationships, and I can't really say more than that without giving it all away, but there's enough in here to steam up your varifocals. ;)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews