[mark12_30]

Frodo following Bilbo in so many ways, large, small, emotional, physical, and destiny: thanks everyone for pointing all these out. Very thought-provoking.

A few notes:

...he was very reluctant to start, now that it had come to the point. Bag End seemed a more desirable residence than it had for years...

Torn Frodo again, of course. How I can relate to this...

He had indeed privately made up his mind to leave on his fiftieth birthday: Bilbo’s one hundred and twenty-eighth. ... But he did not tell all his thoughts to Gandalf. What the wizard guessed was always difficult to tell.

Private Frodo, the mystery. Why hide from Gandalf?

He spoke lightly; but his heart was moved suddenly with a desire to see the house of Elrond Halfelven, and breathe the air of that deep valley where many of the Fair Folk still dwelt in peace.

Breathe the air -- I can relate to that!
'His heart was moved suddenly'-- part of Frodo's particular appeal. I love this about him; I love his reaction to elves, to Goldberry, to beauty of any sort. He feels deeply.

Frodo Baggins was going back to Buckland.

An eastward step...what looks backward is really forward; what looks like regression is progress; what lookS like a return to comfortable, familiar surrounding is actually a springboard into the uncomfortable, perilous wilderness.

Frodo's party: the four young hobbits:

....but the food was good, and there was good wine: ....
When they had sung many songs, and talked of many things they had done together, they toasted Bilbo’s birthday, and they drank his health and Frodo’s together according to Frodo’s custom. Then they went out for a sniff of air, and glimpse of the stars, and then they went to bed.

I love this party. As an introvert, this is the one (not Bilbo's 111th) that I would want to be invited to... It reminds me of one of my favorite Rivendell quotes:

"They spoke no more of the small news of the Shire far away: nor of the dark shadows and perils that encompassed them, but of the fair things they had seen in the world together: of the elves, of the stars, of trees, and the gentle fall of the bright year inthe woods."

That sentence breaks my heart. How rarely we do that.

For Frodo was going on foot. His plan – for pleasure and a last look at the Shire as much as any other reason – was to walk from Hobbiton to Bucklebury Ferry, taking it fairly easy.
‘I shall get myself a bit into training, too,’ he said, looking at himself in a dusty mirror in the half-empty hall. He had not done any strenuous walking for a long time, and the reflection looked rather flabby, he thought.

The next time he looks into a mirror is at Rivendell?

'A last look at the Shire'-- how would I feel taking a last look at my childhood home before leaving it (forever) for great peril?

Lobelia coming early to review her inventory-- how to ruin someone's last day in
Their home!

'Frodo did not offer her any tea.'

chortle...

He took his own tea with Pippin and Sam Gamgee in the kitchen. It had been officially announced that Sam was coming to Buckland ‘to do for Mr. Frodo and look after his bit of garden’...

Ah. More than a gardener! Here it's made clear. I never caught any indication (before this) that Sam would be doing more than gardening; and then in ROTK to be startled by that quote 'morning, mr frodo! Breakfast is ready!' and sam pulling the curtains back...

They left the washing up for Lobelia.

chortle...

Th

e sun went down. Bag End seemed sad and gloomy and dishevelled. Frodo wandered round the familiar rooms, and saw the light of the sunset fade on the walls, and shadows creep out of the corners. It grew slowly dark indoors.

Whoa! Shadows creeping out of the corners... dark indoors...

He went out and walked down to the gate at the bottom of the path, and then on a short way down the Hill Road.... ‘It’s going to be a fine night,’ he said aloud. ... He turned to go back, and then stopped, for he heard voices, just round the corner by the end of Bagshot Row....Footsteps went away down the Hill. Frodo wondered vaguely why the fact that they did not come on up the Hill seemed a great relief.

Heretofore, I had the mental geography of this 'eavesdropping' quite wrong. Turns out it was an Incredibly close call! Frodo and the Black Rider are standing on the same road, with just a curve between them. Chilling. And a good thing that Frodo decided: 'We are not going through the village tonight. Too many ears pricking and eyes prying.’

Since they were all hobbits, and were trying to be silent, they made no noise that even hobbits would hear. Even the wild things in the fields and woods hardly noticed their passing.

I have always wished that I could do that!