Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

It’s been a WEEK? (Okay, a week and a day!) I hadn’t meant to get that far behind, but life has legitimately been pretty full. I chaperoned a third grade field trip last Wednesday, and Friday was incredibly full–we went to the Taylorsville Temple open house as a family, I went to a funeral and then booked it to Ream’s and home to make gluten-free funeral potatoes for the luncheon, I picked up my third grader while they were in the oven, I dropped them off and exercised and–you get the picture. There was a second funeral on Saturday, and my oldest played the piano at it while my second oldest made the cookies I signed up to bring and I did laundry like a madwoman; we had family scripture time in between all that and my doctor’s appointment and errands and the mother’s day shopping some of the kids needed to do with my hubby. On Sunday my niece and nephew and my nephew’s wife came for dinner, which occupied a fair amount of the day, but I did come up with an idea (inspiration?) for a Sunday scavenger hunt to get the kids exercise. (Although next time I’m clarifying that they can’t count things on our own street.) Yesterday was cleanup and knitting and Costco and piano lessons, which brings us to today’s I-know-it’s-Tuesday-but-I-can’t-get-any-further-behind post.

Being my own nerdy self, I finished Helen Frost’s Diamond Willow this morning (after walking my 9-year-old to school) because it’s due and not renewable this week and I was too close to the end to do anything else. (It’s also mostly a verse novel and thus not a big time commitment overall.) The thing is? It was lovely–in an oddly both-solid-and-mystical sort of way. Willow is a completely relatable Alaskan girl who is closer to her family’s sled dogs than most people; she has one close friend but feels otherwise invisible at school. When she finds herself in difficulties, however, she keeps her head and makes her way through; thus, Diamond Willow feels not so much like a true coming-of-age novel, but rather a novel of discovery and acknowledgement. Willow discovers truths about (and extra reserves of strength within) herself, and those discoveries come hand-in-hand with her parents’ recognition and acknowledgement of her strength and burgeoning maturity. And what initially confused me became one of my favorite parts of Willow’s story–she has more family supporting (and loving) her than she realizes.

I went back and forth about whether my kiddos would like this one, but ultimately I’m going to leave it up to them. My 14-year-old rarely loves any sort of mystical elements, but between the dogs and the emotional growth, she may still love this one; my 9-year-old may not understand all of the emotional complexity happening, but the dogs may enchant her anyway. We’ll see–because it seriously touched me. Don’t miss this one!