Honeymoon Camping!

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes, 19 seconds

Fire and Rain in the Gap

This looks like a perfect place for a campsite,” I said to Jan as we looked over a large open field on the top of a bluff overlooking the Delaware River on the New Jersey side. I had parked the VW, where it was clear that other cars had spent the evening. We opened the car doors, felt the mild, almost cool air, and knew it was the right place for us. It is a beautiful spot for the first night of our honeymoon.

I walked around and put my arms around her. 

“Nothing is as beautiful as you are, my love!”

We were setting up our tiny orange tent and giggling uncontrollably.

“What do you think of our home away from home,” I inquired.

“I can’t wait to be in bed with you, my love.”

We have to cook before sundown.”

As the fire embers cooled enough so we could cook, I dug a trench around the tent even though it was on a raised pad.

“Why are you digging a trench?”

“I was a Boy Scout, and you have to be prepared.”

Jan snickered.

I hope you will be prepared for a lovely dinner and a fun time in our tent tonight!

I blushed so much that if anyone had walked into our campsite, they would have had trouble distinguishing between my hair and my face. 

“Not that it stopped us before, but we are married, and all I suggested is doing it now as a married couple,” Jan said as she smiled at me.

Dinner was not a gourmet meal but the first meal we had prepared together since our wedding. It was still difficult to believe that it was only two days since we were married. Sunday, we spent with my parents, grandmother, sister, and nephew at a Mets game. 

We had taken them to the airport this morning and left on our honeymoon this afternoon. The drive to the campsite was our first hour alone as a married couple.

With the approach of twilight, I offered to clean the dishes if Jan would get the sleeping bags ready in the tent.

I saw thunderclouds on the horizon as I washed and dried the cooking pots and utensils. I had not heard any reports of storms but was glad I had dug the trench around the tent.

Crawling into the tent, I noticed that Jan had unzipped the two sleeping bags. They were laid on top of each other, making it possible for us to sleep together. 

“My love, you were serious about tonight!”

As much as I wanted to stay in the tent and finally and officially consummate our marriage, I suggested we take a walk before sundown.

Walking on the dirt road we had driven into the camp, we saw other couples and families with more gigantic tents or RVs. 

I am happy we have our little pup tent,” Jan observed. 

“We will be fine. We have very little money but unlimited love.”

The path led to an overlook of the Delaware Water Gap. The river was narrow, and the water moved slowly. The sun appeared to be setting just across the river from where we stood. 

The last few moments of daylight were playing peek-a-boo with the darkening storm clouds. The fire-red flames of the fading sun seemed to be trying to push the impending storm away. But the storm clouds kept getting darker, and soon the sun disappeared.

It Is the first sunset we have seen as a married couple.

Jan put her arms around me. We kissed with an abandon and passion that belied the fact that we had been a couple for almost two years. 

It is the first of thousands we will witness together and seal our love with a kiss,” she whispered.

As the sun began to disappear, we walked hand in hand to our campsite.

The thunderheads, dark and ominous, filled the sky as we returned to the campsite. 

The weather report I checked when we left Brooklyn did not predict stormy weather.

“We will be OK, as we will be together.”

I let Jan enter the tent first. 

“I will be in in a minute or two.”

I checked that the tent was secure, took the shovel, and made the trench around the tent deeper.

I was beginning to worry that we could be in for stormy weather instead of Jan’s planned nocturnal activities. After I completed the inspection, I knew we were as prepared as possible. 

After placing the shovel in the car and other gear to stay dry, I returned to our tent. As soon as I had zipped the tent closed, I kissed the love of my life

With limited space, we fumbled as we undressed each other. Jan believed we, or I, had consummated our wedding the night we were married. But I knew better and wanted tonight to be one we would never forget.

Facing each other in the minimal space, we kissed and hugged until the first lightning bolt hit the ground. It was so close that the thunderclap rolled the tent walls only a few seconds after the flash of light. 

We sat up and held each other tightly.

A monsoon-like downpouring of rain began to fall, and the tent walls became damp and cold.

Laying down, we held each other so tightly that we could barely breathe.

“It can’t last much longer,” I mumbled unconvincingly. 

As the winds intensified, we heard a tree falling

“Should we go to the car?”

“Not sure where we would be safer.”

Jan seemed to accept my opinion, which had no supporting evidence. 

“Plus, if we left, with the wet walls of the tent, I am not sure we could get dressed.”

With the storm, would anyone notice we were in our birthday suits?

We both laughed at the thought of two newlyweds running naked to their car.

“It is probably better that we stay where we are.”

“At least we are dry and together.” 

Instead of getting better or leaving our small plot of heaven on earth, the storm continued and grew stronger. 

We agreed not to make love during the storm without saying a word. Each lightning bolt and body-shaking thunderclap kept our minds focused on survival, not on our honeymoon bed.

Jan put her head in my nook.

“Jan, I love you!”

“Me too!”

With each bolt of lightning and thunderclap, Jan’s body jumped. I held her tighter each time and whispered words of love in her ears. 

As much as I knew we were as prepared as possible for the storm, I knew we were at more risk than I wanted to convey to her. 

I whispered a silent prayer as Jan fell asleep. God, protect us, and we will forever be grateful

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Brooklyn Crime Novel: A Novel

Read: October 2023

Brooklyn Crime Novel: A Novel

by Jonathan Lethem

I recently recommended reading “Brooklyn Crime Novel: A Novel” by Jonathan Lethem. The story is set in 1970s Brooklyn, where a daily ritual occurs on the streets. This ritual involves exchanging money, surrendering belongings, and asserting power. Violence is promised everywhere and becomes a currency itself.

Regardless of race, the street is like a stage in the shadows for the children. In the background, other players hide, including parents, cops, renovators, landlords, those who write the headlines, histories, and laws, and those who award this neighborhood its name.

Although the rules seem apparent initially, in memory’s prism, the roles of criminals and victims may appear to trade places. The voices of the past rise and gather as if in harmony, then war with one another. A street may seem to crack open and reveal what lies behind its shimmering facade. None who lived through it are ever permitted to forget.

Jonathan Lethem has written this story with kaleidoscopic verve and delirious wit, making it a breathtaking tour de force by a writer at the top of his powers. He has crafted an epic interrogation of how we fashion stories to contain the uncontainable: our remorse at the world we’ve made. He is known as “one of America’s greatest storytellers” by the Washington Post.


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We the Animals

Read: July 2024

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We the Animals

by Justin Torres

Today, I embarked on the literary journey of We the Animals by Justin Torres. This novel, listed among the New York Times’ 100 Best Books of the Century, is a groundbreaking work of art. The author of Blackouts immerses us in the tumultuous heart of a family, the intense bonds of three brothers, and the mythic impact of this fierce love on the individuals we are destined to become.

The narrative unfolds as three brothers navigate their way through childhood, a journey filled with emotional highs and lows, from playful acts like smashing tomatoes on each other to finding solace in each other’s company during their parents’ conflicts and even tiptoeing around the house as their mother rests after her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma, hailing from Brooklyn—he’s Puerto Rican, she’s white—share a profound and challenging love, shaping and reshaping the family numerous times. Life in this family is intense and all-consuming, filled with disorder, heartache, and the ecstasy of belonging to each other.

From the intense familial unity, a child feels to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel doesn’t just tell a coming-of-age story; it reinvents it in a sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful way. It delves into themes such as love, the meaning of family, and heartache, adding another layer of depth and complexity to the story.

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Victory City: A Novel

Read: February 2023

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Victory City: A Novel

by Salman Rushdie

Victory City: A Novel by Salman Rushdie is an epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie. It is well written and was a page-turner from page one to the end. I highly recommend this novel and encourage everyone to read it.

Brilliantly styled as a translation of an ancient epic, this is a saga of love, adventure, and myth that is a testament to storytelling’s power. After witnessing her mother’s death, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for the goddess Parvati, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. I was hooked when Pampa Kampana provided the seeds that created Victory City out of thin air.

David Remnick’s interview with Salman Rushdie in The New Yorker provided background I would have missed.

“The first kings of Vijayanagara announced, quite seriously, that they were descended from the moon,” Rushdie said. “So when these kings, Harihara and Bukka, announce that they’re members of the lunar dynasty, they’re associating themselves with those great heroes. It’s like saying, ‘I’ve descended from the same family as Achilles.’ Or Agamemnon. And so I thought, Well, if you could say that, I can say anything.”

Above all, the book is buoyed by the character of Pampa Kampana, who, Rushdie says, “just showed up in my head” and gave him his story, his sense of direction. Rushdie’s pleasure in writing the novel was in “world building” and, at the same time, writing about a character building that world: “It’s me doing it, but it’s also her doing it.” The pleasure is infectious. “Victory City” is an immensely enjoyable novel. It is also an affirmation. At the end, with the great city in ruins, what is left is not the storyteller but her words:

I, Pampa Kampana, am the author of this book.
I have lived to see an empire rise and fall.
How are they remembered now, these kings, these queens?
They exist now only in words . . .
I myself am nothing now. All that remains is this city of words.
Words are the only victors.

The Goodreads summary provides a brief overview,

In the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing her mother’s death, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for the goddess Parvati, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga–literally victory city–the wonder of the world.

Over the next two hundred and fifty years, Pampa Kampana’s life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga’s, from its literal sowing out of a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power. Whispering Bisnaga and its citizens into existence, Pampa Kampana attempts to make good on Parvati’s task: giving women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. As years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, the very fabric of Bisnaga becomes an ever more complex tapestry–with Pampa Kampana at its center.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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North Woods: A Novel

Read: December 2023

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North Woods: A Novel

by Daniel Mason

I recommend reading “North Woods: A Novel” by Daniel Mason today. It is the story of two young lovers who leave a Puritan colony and find shelter in a humble cabin in the woods. They are unaware this cabin will become home to a succession of extraordinary human and nonhuman characters. “North Woods” has been named one of the ten best books of 2023 by both the New York Times Book Review and the Washington Post.

An English soldier who was destined for glory decides to abandon the battlefields of the New World to dedicate himself to growing apples. Meanwhile, a pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, dealing with envy and desire. A crime reporter discovers an ancient mass grave but soon realizes the earth refuses to give up its secrets. In the same town, a lovelorn painter, a sinister con man, a stalking panther, and a lusty beetle are all present. As the inhabitants confront the wonder and mystery around them, they realize that the dark, raucous, and beautiful past is still alive.

This remarkable and highly imaginative novel by Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason is full of love, insanity, humor, and optimism. North Woods follows the cycles of history, nature, and language to reveal the numerous, enchanting ways we are connected to our surroundings, history, and each other. It is not just a memorable story about secrets and fates but a perspective on the world that poses the timeless question: How can we continue living even after we are gone?


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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Can You Feel This?

Read: January 2023

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Can You Feel This?

by Julie Orringer

Today I read Can You Feel This? by Julie Orringer. This short story rekindled so many memories. In the chaos of a maternity ward, memories of tragedy and grief come flooding back for an anxious mother-to-be as she struggles to balance her child’s needs with her healing. Although Jan and I did not have the shadows of tragedy and grief when our sons were born, this short story was more than a page-turner. Can You Feel This? reminded me of the power of the love Jan and I shared.

When our second son was born, we almost had him at home or in the as we waited too long. In Can, You Feel This? , that was not the case. Both children had two loving parents but also grandparents.

When Jan had the first of several hospitalizations, she was in the hospital where her mother died. Jan told me her feelings, and I comforted her, but I could not fully comprehend her angst.

Can You Feel This? is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. Each Inheritance piece can be read or listened to in a single setting. By yourself, behind closed doors, or shared with someone you trust. This is the second one in the series I have read. The previous one was Everything That my Mother Taught Me.

The Goodreads summary provides an overview,

Rushed into an emergency cesarean section, a woman finds herself in the same hospital where her suicidal mother died. She’s buried the trauma of her mother’s last hours—and also the dread that she might be just as vulnerable to breaking. As the new mother relives one crisis in the midst of another, prize-winning author Julie Orringer turns the joyous event of birth into a harrowing, poignant short story.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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Do You Remember Being Born?: A Novel

Read: September 2023

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Do You Remember Being Born?

by Sean Michaels

I started reading “Do You Remember Being Born?” by Sean Michaels, a writer who won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The novel is about an aging poet named Marian Ffarmer, a legend in the world of poetry. However, despite her success, she struggles with financial issues and her son’s inability to buy a house. Marian has sacrificed her personal relationships and happiness to pursue her career but questions whether it is worth it.

One day, she receives an invitation from a Tech Company to travel to California and work with their poetry AI, Charlotte. The company wants her to co-author a poem with their bot in a historic partnership, which clashes with Marian’s beliefs about the individual pursuit of art. However, she decides to take this opportunity, even though it makes her feel like a sell-out and a skeptic. The encounter in California changes her life, work, and understanding of kinship.

The book explores the nature of language, art, labor, capital, family, and community. It’s a response to some of the most disquieting questions of our time. The author, Sean Michaels, is a winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and his book is a love letter to and interrogation of the creative legacy. It’s a joyful recognition that belonging to one’s art must mean belonging to the world to survive meaningfully.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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I receive a commission when you buy a book or product using a link on this page. Thank you for supporting Sharing Jan’s Love blog.



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