Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Mattie was home after his first surgery and despite having his right arm bandaged up, we still went outside to fly his dragonfly kite. This was one of Mattie's favorite kites. Our commons area was where Mattie learned to fly his first kite and ride a bicycle. It is a great enclosed space in the city and I am so happy Mattie had it to run around, meet up with JJ (our resident Jack Russell Terrier), and also where Mattie decorated with side walk chalk and played with snow.
Quote of the day: You would not ask someone with a broken arm to swim the English Channel, so you cannot demand that the broken to live as if they were whole. ~ John Eldredge
I spent the day on an airplane flying back from Los Angeles to Washington, DC. It has been a long day but I am happy to say that I am safely back home. While on the plane I started reading a book entitled, The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. I realize this book has a kind of ominous title. It was given to me by a friend who felt that I would find it of interest. Basically it is about a man whose mom is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and how he connects to her during her treatment and battle through books. He goes with her to chemo treatments and they connect often by phone. Each time they chat they find themselves bonding over books. It is through story lines, plots, and characters that they share thoughts and feelings with one another. The beauty of this book is it really shows the therapeutic nature of reading.
I admire people who are glued to books and can lost within them. This is the kind of reader the author and his mom happen to be and it is through this memoir of his mom's life that we the reader received two things. The first is we literally learn about a host of all sorts of books that these two individuals read. Their description of each book can truly peak one's interest and I have a feeling by the time one finishes reading The End of Your Life Book Club, a whole reading list is established. The second thing one most likely learns is the power of bonding over books. When we are uncertain of how to connect with others, turning to books may help. Sometimes it is easier to talk about things through referring to a book rather than revealing our own thoughts and feelings, which can be scary and leave us feeling vulnerable. In fact this is how this mother and son team learned a lot about each other. Through their book choices, the characters they related to, and the feelings that these plots evoked. I love the quote from this book which states, "Reading isn't the opposite of doing; it's the opposite of dying."
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