Honeymoon Day Two!

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes, 22 seconds

Swimming in a Waterfall
As Our Love Grows Stronger

“This is the gravel path that I walked down to the hostel’s office and had my unfortunate encounter with the German Shepard,” I said to Jan as we stood in the hostel parking lot. Even though it had been two years since that encounter, I felt uncomfortable and fidgety as I looked at the place where a dog had mauled me. Jan squeezed my hand and stepped in front of me to partially block the view. “I am so happy that you survived. I love you and know I could not live without you.”

I pulled her toward me and hugged and kissed her. 

“I survived the fire the year before. I promised God that I would live a life of meaning and purpose….”

Jan nodded, and her lips covered my mouth with luscious kisses that only a bride could offer

With each smooch, my mind and body drifted into a tranquil mood as I focused on the joy of our honeymoon. I could only focus on Jan and our future days and nights together.

I hugged Jan tighter and wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day in her arms.

We can keep kissing, or we can….

Jan’s latest kiss kept me from finishing my thought.

If you want to take a break, I would love to see the waterfall,” Jan purred.

We separated and walked hand-in-hand across the field.

“Once upon a time,” I stated while pointing out the cabins, “this was a honeymoon retreat.”

“Very small and a little outdated,” she responded as we looked in the window of one of the cottages.

I explained that I had shared it with seven pre-teen boys while I tried to rest after the dog bit me. 

“When we returned from the hospital, the boys rode their bikes down the hill. I had asked a woman staying with her daughter to watch the boys. She believed that letting them do what they wanted was OK.” 

Jan shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

“There were not many options, in retrospect she was probably not the best choice. The county police arrived and wanted to know who was in charge of the kids.”

I paused for a moment and then continued.

“When I told the contables I was, but the dog had bitten me and I had only now returned from the hospital, the officer forgot about the kids and went to see the manager and the dog. They did not speak to me after that. Boys that did not look like them were only an issue until they could harass a woman for not keeping her dog on a tighter leash.


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7 comments add your comment

  1. What a beautiful love affair-you were lucky to have found each other.

    What about this dog bite-were you okay? Did you have to have a shot?

    • Thanks, Sue, for your comment. Jan and I had a love that I always thought was like everyone else’s. Jan and I had our souls divided at birth, and finding each other allowed us to reunite our souls and have one soul, one love, now and forever.

      Regarding the dog bite, I wrote about it in detail in Road Trippin in 1973. The dig bite was severe and could have been worse if I had listened to the hostel manager and accepted her plan to use band-aids.

      “Pretty bad. If the bite had been a fraction of an inch higher, it would have cracked your rib cage. That would have been a serious life-threatening situation.”

      I swallowed to control the pain and accept how serious it was.

      They gave me the two injections and started to sew me up.

      “How many stitches?”

      “A baker’s dozen at least.”

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Read: May 2022

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

by V.E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is a page-turner, and one of the rare books I have read that I wish had not ended. On the last page, I wanted the story of Addie to continue now that she had modified her deal with the dark side to save Henry Strauss. It was not that I wished Addie and Henry to reunite; it was to see how Addie’s life with Luc would continue. I recommend this book without any reservations!

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But time travel is not possible. Or is it? Her spirit returns to me whenever I am paralyzed, encouraging me to dust myself off and keep going. Maybe one day we will travel together!

The Goodreads summary includes an overview.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

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But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore, and he remembers her name.


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The Secrets we Left Behind

Read: March 2022

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The Secrets We Left Behind

The Secrets We Left Behind by Soraya M. Lane is a historical fiction that raises the question, where were the women after Dunkirk and the fall of France? When World War II appeared to have been lost with a Nazi victory. Ms. Lane watched the movie Dunkirk and then researched that time and the women’s possible roles during that difficult moment in history.

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The Goodreads synopsis provides an overview of the novel.

How far will they go for family, friendship, and love? Occupied France, 1940. When the staff at a field hospital draw straws to find out who will join the evacuation from Dunkirk, Nurse Cate is left behind. But when the Nazis arrive to claim prisoners of war, she takes her chance and flees into the night, taking one patient with her.

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The Last White Man

Read: August 2022

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The Last White Man: A Novel

by Mohsin Hamid

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid is a story of love, loss, and rediscovery in a time of unsettling change. One morning, Anders, the novel’s protagonist,  wakes to find that his skin has turned dark, his reflection a stranger to him. At first, he tells only Oona, an old friend, newly a lover. Soon, reports of similar occurrences surface across the land.

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The Goodreads summary provides a good overview,

One morning, Anders wakes to find that his skin has turned dark, his reflection a stranger to him. At first he tells only Oona, an old friend, newly a lover. Soon, reports of similar occurrences surface across the land. Some see in the transformations the long-dreaded overturning of an established order, to be resisted to a bitter end. In many, like Anders’s father and Oona’s mother, a sense of profound loss wars with profound love. As the bond between Anders and Oona deepens, change takes on a different shading: a chance to see one another, face to face, anew.

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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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Read: October 2023

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Land of Milk and Honey: A Novel

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Today, I commenced reading Land of Milk and Honey: A Novel by C Pam Zhang, the award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold; she returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world. With the arrival of forest fire smoke in my neighborhood, it seemed a timely book to read.

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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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Read: February 2023

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The Houseboat: A Novel

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The Goodreads summary provides an overview,

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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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Remarkably Bright Creatures

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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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