Bits and Pieces and a Book Review

I think that my life is moving faster these days. Never seems to be enough hours in the day, lately. This week, I took time and did some things that I've been wanting to do. We went to my Grandson's performance in "Bye Bye Birdie" on Sunday afternoon. It was wonderful. Joe and I had front row seats for this show. Tyler and the cast did a great job. Music and dancing...very professional. You could tell that a lot of practise and hard work went into this production. Huntley High School has a great performing arts program. Tyler is a natural and has a love for performing...he's so lucky to have this school and people in his life to encourage him.

Yesterday, I had to go for blood work and a mammogram. Our doctor's office is in a huge, new, medical facility an hour away....so I had lots of time to think about things...while driving there. I thought about friends facing medical challenges and how very lucky I am to be my age and not have any real medical concerns. I know that this can't last forever, but I am so grateful to have the life I do. I got there on time and was out of the office in less than an hour...and on the road again. Stopped at the "big store" and did our weekly shopping. As I was going to the car, I had to wait for a man to park his car. He got out and said, "I'm sorry to have made you wait." I told him that I was in no hurry...he said, "I'm retired and have all the time in the world..sometimes I think that everyone is like me...I forget that others may be in a hurry." After a chat...I told him to have a nice day and went on my way.

I came home and stopped at the Grotto. There was Joe working with the stone guy. Just the two of them. Working on the niche where Jesus will go. Joe was needed to help out and today he's paying for it with achy muscles. The Grotto is coming along beautifully. The next phase is going to be the most interesting to me. Putting on the stone..

When I got home, I put the groceries away...ughhh! Trying to get all that stuff in the frig. Cleaning produce, so it's all ready when I need it. I had a little nibble of things while doing this job and then made myself a glass of iced tea and went to sit in the sun...on the front porch. I looked around the neighborhood at busy Mom's walking by. I thought that they must look at me with envy, reading my book and drinking iced tea. Little do they know how much I have accomplished already today. We really don't know what people are doing or what they are feeling...just looking at them. We might get cranky at a Sr. Citizen taking too much time driving, or envy someone elses free time. We just have to try to be more tolerant and understanding.

Now the book:

I just finished reading Every Last One, by Anna Quindlen. If you aren't acquainted with Anna...run out to the library and get one of her books. Anna is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist... whose New York Times column, Public and Private, won a Pulitzer prize in 1992. She began her journalism career in 1974 as a reporter for the New York Post . Between 1977 and 1994 she held several posts at The New York Times.Quindlen left journalism in 1995 to become a full-time novelist In 1999, she joined Newsweek, writing a bi-weekly column until announcing her semi-retirement in the May 18, 2009 issue of the magazine. I have followed her from the very first article she wrote. I've seen her on talk shows and now I'm reading her books. She has the ability to write how I think. She has written quite a few books, both fiction and non fiction. This is one of my favorites...I hope that a movie is made out of this one. It is a story of a Mom... Mary Beth Latham, who thinks of herself as average, ordinary even .... She's blessed with three teenage children whom she dotes over, a happy marriage and pleasurable work as boss of her own landscape business. What she loves about her job and life is the slow inevitable progression that it takes. This is a quote taken from the book... "I count my years in small bushes grown broad, climbing vines that snake over fences and roofs, saplings that are spreading trees." Anna Quindlen's writing is like knitting; prose that wraps the reader in the warmth and familiarity of domestic life.The platters on the sideboard. The naps on the couch. The way a teenager wakes warm and affectionate, then cools and crackles as the day goes on. Anna starts to pull at the world she has knitted, and lets it unravel across the pages. (this was taken from a book review) Mary Beth lives the life of a typical "soccer Mom" until a tragedy strikes. I found myself pulling for Mary Beth and wanting the book to end happily for her. Have you ever read a book and then wanted to email or write a letter to the author to say...thanks for writing this?

Balisha