"They say in Heaven, love comes first
We'll make Heaven a place on Earth," -- Belinda Carlisle
On Sunday we met at Sheila's to discuss Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Sheila welcomed us to Heaven at the door to her apartment. Certainly, the food and munchies were heavenly! There were two big fruit salads, cookies and cake and candies. Someone brought sliced corned beef, and Ruth K. brought a Swiss Chard dish with pine nuts. There were knishes and crab cakes, too.
Sheila designed a fun exercise for us that actually tapped into a lot of deep emotion. She asked us to draw a picture of our idea of Heaven, and then to list the 10 people we'd like to meet there. This was based on the premise of the book, that each soul designs his or her own version of Heaven, and that you meet 5 people who explain your life's meaning to you.
I especially liked Antoinette's version of Heaven, where everyone could be his or her most desired self, at the ideal age and body proportions of the person's choosing. Jason, who came to be our newest and youngest (and so far, our only male) member, wanted his Heaven to be like the Redwall books, where we could all be the creatures of our choice and could shapeshift at will.
Annette suprised us by listing Che Guevera as one of the ten people she wanted to meet in Heaven. But in general we listed family members and close friends. There were some tears as people mentioned loved ones who died all too soon, so this became a very touching exercise. It's wonderful that we are sharing so openly.
I'm looking forward to the next meeting, when we will watch the film version of this book, go to dinner, and return to watch "The Kite Runner." Maybe we'll start to get more participants as word spreads, but already we had an excellent turnout and had to bring extra chairs into the living room. The BHC Book Club is heavenly, all right!
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