You Could Make This Place Beautiful

Beautiful.

I've never heard of Maggie Smith, or at least that's what I thought until I reached page 110 and something clicked. “Oh, I think I have read one of her books after all.” I did a search in my iPhone notes and, sure enough, I was greeted with a short review of “Keep Moving” from March 2023.

It read:
“Instead of scrolling through instagram, Maggie's book allows us to flip pages for her short inspirational messages. I currently have a concussion so the minimal amount of words was helpful, but I did feel a level agitation with the repeated phrase ‘keep moving.'
Sometimes we can stop and take a breather, no? (I get her point though.) She seems like an absolutely lovely and wise human being.”

“You Could Make This Place Beautiful” affirmed my feelings toward Maggie. She is absolutely lovely and wise; she writes the way my brain thinks. I loved the creative and heartfelt way she presented the view(s) of her life before, during, and after navigating the divorce—something so many people go through in their life.

Don't we all try to make sense of the senseless while (knowingly or unknowingly) walking home to ourselves?

This book will not be for everyone, but if you have made a path through loss to a life beyond, it may lodge in your heart and stay there. The audiobook is lovely.