Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Of course, that question ignores the fact that I’m now close to a week behind here, but life keeps conspiring against my blogging efforts–especially since I’ve been putting off my review of Lisa Graff’s Lost in the Sun until I could be coherent and take my time over it. Just to catch you up on the last week or so…

My youngest was invited to a birthday party last Friday night AND a birthday party last Saturday morning at 10–and the latter was in North Salt Lake. A present had to be obtained, waivers had to be signed, and transportation needed to happen. On Sunday we zoomed what we could of ward conference and THEN zoomed the beginning of my California niece’s mission farewell sacrament meeting in the car on the way to my Utah niece’s mission farewell. (Oh, and I made treats in the morning for the luncheon following her sacrament meeting.) On Monday my oldest had her psych eval at 8:30, which meant that she and I left around 8:10 and my hubby dropped the littles off at school. Yesterday, in a frightfully easy mistake to make under the specific circumstances, she backed into the car behind us at an intersection; no one was hurt and damage was minimal, but it was (obviously) upsetting for all concerned. This morning I took her to get blood drawn so they can test her thyroid, only because they wanted to check her fasting cholesterol she had to come fasting and it took two phlebotomists, at least four sticks, and a great deal of time before they managed to get enough blood to test. Also, my youngest was scared and spent a bit of time in our bed last night, and in related news I’ve been awake since before 4:30…

Anyway. On to Lost in the Sun, which reminded me of Gary D. Schmidt’s Okay for Now in more than one way. Boy with a good heart but a healthy dollop of not-his-fault emotional baggage? Check. Dad who’s sometimes a jerk? Check. Said boy’s unexpected friendship with a girl? Check. Said boy only has brothers? Check. And so on. It’s not just the logistics, however, that remind me of Okay for Now, it’s also the emotional impact, and if you know how I feel about Gary D. Schmidt, you’ll know that’s a serious compliment. Lost in the Sun got to me and stayed with me–Trent with his unimaginable burden of having innocently hit the hockey puck that caused another kid’s death, Fallon with her scar that made me think of Chris Crutcher’s Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Fallon’s dad and Trent’s mom, trying to help their kids, Trent’s brothers, with their own struggles, Ms. Emerson with her plants, Ray, Mr. Gorman, and Annie Richards, who lost HER brother to that ill-fated hockey puck. It’s a solid cast of characters, and it takes that cast of characters (plus one or two others) to help Trent heal. It’s a difficult journey for him AND the reader (at least, any reader with a heart) but the destination is so very worth it. Kids with struggles–AND the parents who love them–should definitely read this one.