I have signed another book contract. I have been signing all kinds of contracts.
Even one I never thought I would do again: I plight my troth.
I recently signed a PACS: Le pacte civil de solidarité. Contract means both to shrink and to draw together.
I have been thinking about these words. Troth means truth. Plight means pledge. Our contract was for deeply practical reasons. And nothing like the first time when I was thirty, pregnant with twins and we had a five day wedding party.
This time the ceremony was somber, with a notaire, and in G’s room at the rehabilitation clinic where he is learning to walk and use his left arm after suffering a stroke.
Stroke is another word to think about: as in, “with the stroke of my pen…”