At the close of Bontober!!

We do have a family full of folks born in October - but only one who celebrates Bontober - with such vim and verve too!!

So let me just say Happy Bontober to you - it's been a good month - hope the memories last all year!!

Airplane Reading

We recently flew to Portland - and lucky for me the newest Grisham had arrived in the mail the day before!!  It was some great airplane reading - and also filled my time when I was babysitting while Sully napped and everyone else went to the kids' games.

Generally speaking I love reading John Grisham novels - some are better than others.  Once there was one I could not plow through - I think it was The Brethren - but generally they do the job for me - that is, they entertain and keep my interest.

This is a really good one - when I told Harry it was not regular Grisham but had a twist that worked well - he said, "Isn't there someone who is wrongly accused?"  Well, there is someone who is wrongly accused, but trust me on this one folks -  the twist works really well.

I won't say anymore - but let me know if you read it!

My cousin Chaz posted on FB about a comment a band teacher had written in his yearbook.  And it piqued my curiosity,  so I pulled out one of my old yearbooks - the first one I came to in fact - and the comments there were amusing, to say the least.

Let me digress here with some info:  I went to LA Unified Schools - back when they were pretty great schools I might add - and one of the routines they followed was to have students start and finish at the semester.  I started school in February when I was almost 5, and graduated in January, when I was almost 18.

That said, students elected to student body offices served just one semester, and then a new election was held every semester.  We changed our classes every semester too - teachers, students, the whole enchilada.  I frankly think the semester system is superior to the year plan - but I'm in a distinct minority.  I remember being appalled when I discovered that our children would have the same teacher - or teachers - for an entire year!  What if you didn't like the teacher - or the class? 

Back to the point I had in mind when I started this - some of the quotes from the old yearbook pages.  The reason I had to explain is because I had been elected Student Body President in June - and would serve for my last semester in high school.  It was a close race - I won by 17 votes!!  And I ran against the captain of the football team!  (Who wrote:  "Barbara, Women have no place in government and furthermore you're a dodo.  Drop dead!  Bad luck!")

I will acknowledge that I was not the first girl elected at my school - there had been one a couple of years before me.  But it was quite a few years after me before another girl got elected.  Hopefully I didn't ruin it for the other girls, and it was just a quirk of fate that no more girls got in the "Oval Office" at  GHHS for several years!

So here are some random selections:

"Barbara, I can't believe that next semester will be so wonderful.  Let's bring our usual vice and corruption into student council politics."

"Barbara, I agree with Anne, keep our politics dirty, it's the only way we'll get anything done!!  Good Luck PRESIDENT!!"

"Barbara, good luck and best wishes in your big job next year."

"Good Luck in the coming semester as president Barbara.  Do as good a job as those before you have done and add your touch."

"Barb, Lots of Luck always espicpally (sp) with your High Office.  Your real neat."

"Barbara, To a real good joe.  I want you to get me a lot of favors next semester when your (sic) Queen Barbara.  Best of luck next year and forever."

"To the future Student Body President.  Best of luck "Bossing" the school."

And this one - which puzzles me - the things we forget I guess:

"Barbara, 

Beautiful Blond.

Famed Student Body Officer.

Fan of Roi Tans

May you always be happy."

Roi Tans???

"Trailing clouds of glory do we come, from God, who is our home. . ."

Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of our sweet baby Jonah.  He only stayed a short time, but his time with us was very significant.

He taught us all many lessons, right from the start.

Let me begin by saying that I was concerned that possibly I wouldn't "bond" instantly with Jonah.  I feared that his condition might be such that we could not hold him or cuddle him or do anything for him.  As we waited in the hospital waiting room for the word that he'd been safely born and we could see him, our anxiety was palpable.  Then Harry came and told us he was here and that we could come in.  

As we walked down the hall, we heard his little newborn cries.  Never have cries sounded so musical.  He sounded like a newborn baby.  I felt better already.

We all took turns holding him.  When my turn came, I held the soft bundle that was this precious little boy.  A little boy who had many earthly defects, but who felt like and smelled like and was a newborn baby first - a child of God.  Of secondary import was the catalog of characteristics that weren't quite right.

Every time I come across this photo of his soft, sweet hair, I am reminded that we should first see others as they really and truly are - children of God.  Secondarily we can consider the other factors that define them.

As we often say, our sweet baby Jonah had only 11 days with us - 11 days of life . . .  a lifetime of memories. May the memories of the lessons he taught us all never fade.

A very gripping tale!!

This book was chosen by my book group for this month.  Dad had linked my iPad to his Kindle so that we could both read the same books - this was our maiden voyage into the shared book territory!!  It was actually pretty fun to be reading the same book at the same time!!

And a very good book it is.  If you read Seabiscuit, also by Laura Hillenbrand, then you know that she has a way with real stories - she tells them like a novel - and they are gripping and compelling - we both had some late nights as we sat up reading into the wee hours.

It's the story of Louie Zamperini - an Olympian who was captured by the Japanesse during World War II.  His plane crashed and he and his two companions were adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for over 47 days - often surrounded by sharks.  If it hadn't been a true story, we might have believed that it couldn't possibly be true.

Don't let me spoil it - just give it a read - you'll be glad you did.

And let me know what you think!!

The Giver quartet

I for one was not aware that there was a "Giver Quartet."  Someone mentioned it in the lunchroom at school I think, and said that the third book was Messenger, which I wrote about previously.  The second book is Gathering Blue - which I re-read recently too.  So before the final book in the quartet arrived, I re-read The Giver.

That said, the whole set is a really great read.  If you are a fan of The Giver, I suggest you re-read it - otherwise you might get confused.  And read them all in order.  I am quite impressed with Lois Lowry.  She writes on a broad range of topics and does a good job of writing not only readable prose, but enlightening and well-crafted prose.

Any details would spoil the plot - take my word for it - if you are a fan, you need to read Son.  If it's been awhile since you've read them, you need to re-read them.

And then let me know what you think!!