I finished "Every Mother is a Daughter"

I am not trying to copy Leila* here (no worries Leila, I couldn't hold a candle!) but I figured instead of spending all my time being sarcastic, I will add a little something about things I have read etc... You know, so you all think I have some semblance of intelligence!

I finished listening to Every Mother is a Daughter , (yes, I do listen to books around the house or in my car...it is NOT a cop out...it is a busy moms way of staying involved in literature...so says I! But in my defense, I still read some too, it just takes a long time.)

I would love to have something sarcastic to say about this book, but I don't. Being 35 and lucky enough to have a 92 year old grandmother to take care of, also being lucky enough to have a mom, (who would kick my butt if I said how old she is on here,) and the great fortune of having two lovely daughters, I devoured this book whole heartedly. Not always identifying with one character over another, but with little bits of both of them as they wove their way through writing this book.

It lead me to wonder about what my mother would write about me, of who I am. Or what we would have to write about if we were to write a book together. It made me look at my daughter and realize that she is going to grow up and at some point have to take care of me, and what would she say about that? What would be her memories of my strengths and weaknesses be? What observations would she make about my life, that I would have never seen as having impact?

Perri Klass, and Sheila Solomon Klass, the mother and daughter that wrote this book are both, obviously, writers, and both have lived extraordinary lives, of travel, adventure, and humor. Lives truly rich in academia, which led me to realize the opulence of my own childhood. Not in monetary wealth, but a life that was steeped in educational pursuits, travel and the desire of my parents to open my eyes and take in the world around me and all that it has to offer.

So no snark here today, if you are a mom, or a daughter, it is worth a read. Take a minute like I did, to laugh at the idiosyncrasies of people, the dysfunction of all our families, and swell with the emotion of it all. In the end, those links and bonds that we build with our families and pass on to the following generations, are our mark on this world. They are our legacy, and they are precious.


* Leila is a friend I work with at the library, who is Uber smart, (to use one of her words,) reads like, 400 books a day, and then writes an incredible blog about them. In comparison on the book front, I am the kid in the back row stretching my bubble gum out to see how far it will go and getting it stuck all over my fingers... But she never makes me feel that way, so I love her anyway!]

should I worry?

Today alas, my 2 of my offspring are sick. One sounded like a dog barking this morning and the other, a fever for no apparent reason. Lovely. So today I am "Mommy Play with me" Barbie. Which is OK, because I had a big box! No kid can resist a big box.

We built an apartment for them in my living room. This was really fun for them until I got a little too "into" them being on their own. I got blank looks with a twinge of fright when I kept talking about coming to visit.

" look we can put a window box on your apartment and I will bring you flowers when I come visit"

Clearly I was picturing them on their own, and they were just having fun with a box. Oh well, I am fairly sure they will recover. Marshall my 9 year old going on 21 year old, will probably try to move in tonight when she gets home. We will get up tomorrow morning and there will be a skull and crossbones on the door, saying Enter at Your Own Risk. Since when did 9 year old kids get Angst????

Anyway, for lack of anything better, I posted pictures of the aftermath of Henry and Caroline’s “fun” play. I am not sure whether to be concerned about:

1: The brazen violence depicted by the many creatures eating each other, and the troubling scene of a farmer being on the wrong side of his monkey wrench.

Or

2. The fact that my kids don’t understand history and had a dinosaur eating a horse, and didn't know that clearly farmers weren’t around during the era of the Giant Tools….