Teachingmommy: ?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

?

I'm not sure what to write here. My mom has been gone for 7 days now and I'm still struggling to understand exactly how that happened. Why didn't the doctors know sooner how sick she was? Why her? Why us? So many questions...

For those of you who have sent messages, thank you so much. Every single text, email, message has been read and appreciated and most of them have brought a tear to my eyes. (or more than one). It seems to come and hit me in waves...some moments I'm fine, and others...well.

Today has been a hard day. I'm busy arranging the funeral and memorial services and still trying to take good care of my very busy 2 year old. I realized yesterday that her birthday is quickly approaching so I better get on the plans for that. Life does go on, it seems...

Funeral is Saturday. I hope that will bring my family and I some closure and we can start the process of moving on. I'm not sure what that would look like except that we breathe in and out each day and go to sleep and get up and do it again.

I hope to be back writing for this as soon as I can. In the meantime...I'm breathing.

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Spanish Steps: Rome, Italy

Must Read Books & Great Authors

"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" is a novel by Betty Smith first published in 1943. It relates the coming-of-age story of its main character, Francie Nolan, and her Irish-American family struggling against poverty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The novel is set in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The book was an immense success, a nationwide best-seller that was distributed to servicemen overseas.
"Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. This is my all-time favorite book and you MUST read this at least once in your lifetime. It has won the Pulitzer Prize, it is available in 31 different countries and it has been hearlded as "The Great Amercian Novel"
"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult is a heart-wrenching novel about what it means to be a good parent, a good person and a good sister. Kate has had cancer since childhood and her younger sister Anna was concevied to be a perfect-match bone marrow donor for her. As Anna grows up, she struggles with how she and world will see the rights of her own body. This novel is the first book in years that had me crying. It was very well written and very enjoyable if you're in the mood for a tear-jerker.
"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls is a memoir about a nomadic, deprived childhood told with the wonderment of a child who always wants to believe that Daddy will be a hero in the end and that Momma really does know best. You are enrapt reading about Walls and her siblings rifling through trash cans at school looking for food, doing the skedaddle in the middle of the night, or waiting for Dad to come home after another bender. It's a riveting story and a testament to Walls' desire to rise above a life that could have easily turned her into just another tragic headline. I really appreciated this story because of the very real probability that some of my students are living this very life.
One of my favorite authors (I have everything she's ever written) is Marian Keyes whose stories are set in Britian or Ireland. She is the internationally bestselling author of Watermelon (which is my favorite), Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, The Last Chance Saloon, Angels, Sushi for Beginners, Under the Duvet, and her latest, The Other Side of the Story. Her books have touched readers around the world, and they are now published in 35 countries and in many different languages.