Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for August 2013

5 on Friday: Lessons from the first week of kindergarten

So, it was a big week for us. Our daughter started kindergarten.

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And the rest of us got an education in buses, neighbors and a one-child household.

Here are five observations from this week.

  1. My son’s love language is torment. He misses his sister so much he wants to punch her in the face when she gets home. Okay, not quite that, but he did tell me he wanted to scream and chase her when she got home. Apparently if he loves you, he gives you zerberts on your neck (which is basically  just spitting in your general direction) and hits you with his monkey. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
  2. School burns calories. The girl who whined every hour that she was hungry now comes home with a half-eaten lunch. But within minutes, she’s devouring the portions she didn’t eat at school. Carrots, grapes, raisins. She eats like she’s never seen food before and then eats a double helping at dinner. Using your brain muscles is hard work.
  3. There still aren’t enough hours in the day. When I first heard the words “all day kindergarten” I wondered what Corban and I were going to do with all our time. Some days this week, I was like, “Wow, we have to meet the bus in an hour and I still haven’t done laundry!” The day still passes pretty quickly.
  4. Community happens. A couple of days into her school year, we saw Izzy’s bus driver at the grocery store, where she works her other job. Yesterday, we met a neighbor kid new to the district who would be riding the bus with her. For the first three days, we were the only ones at the stop. I’m looking forward to meeting other parents and school staff in the coming weeks and months.
  5. Parenting practices exposed. People tell me sometimes that I’m raising her right. I appreciate the encouragement but I don’t always believe it. One day this week, Izzy skipped off the bus and told me she had over half of her lunch left. I asked her why she didn’t eat it, and she told me a story about a girl in her class who wouldn’t stop crying for their teacher at lunch time. “I kept telling her, ‘Calm down.'” We’ve seen glimpses of Izzy’s compassion, so it’s nice to know that it sticks in settings where we can’t see it. A call from the teacher at the end of the week encouraged us that Izzy’s first week was as good as we thought. (P.S. There’s still the potential to get a different kind of call from the teacher. She is Izzy Fierce, after all.)

Hope for the dark days: Review of Winter in Full Bloom by Anita Higman

I’ve never read a book by Anita Higman before, but now I’m sorry I haven’t. (Disclaimer: I received a free digial copy of Winter in Full Bloom from River North Publishers in exchange for my review and blog tour participation with Litfuse Publicity Group.) I loved, loved, loved this book, the story of Lily Winter, a recently widowed empty-nester who learns she has an identical twin sister who might live in Melbourne, Australia. Lily, who is afraid of flying, travels to Melbourne with few clues to how she’ll find her sister and plenty of self-doubt. Lily is firmly entrenched in a winter of the soul and what she finds in Melbourne sets her on a journey toward spring.

Higman works words to their full potential, describing feelings and events with such vivid word pictures that I found myself nodding in agreement. “Yes, it’s just like that,” I said to myself.

Like Lily’s description of her relationship with her mother:

I tried to batten down the hatches of my emotions, but I’d been born too flimsy to stand up to my mother’s hurricane-force blows.

And her mother’s use of language:

Why do you always have to pick the most potent spice in the rack when a little salt will do?

Metaphors in writing can come across as overused and tired, but Higman’s were neither. They’re fresh and imaginative, and I’d love to read more.

The characters are memorable, and I felt as if I’d traveled with Lily to Melbourne and back on this adventure.

Here’s the official summary:

Lily Winter’s wings are folded so tightly around her daughter that when empty nest arrives, she feels she can no longer fly. But Lily’s lonely, widowed life changes in a heartbeat when she goes to visit a woman who is almost a stranger to her—a woman who also happens to be her mother. During their fiery reunion, her mother reveals a dark family secret that she’d been hiding for decades—Lily has an identical twin sister who was put up for adoption when they were just babies.

Without looking back, Lily—with her fear of flying—boards a jumbo jet and embarks on a quest to find her sister which leads half way around the world to Melbourne, Australia. Befriended by imprudent Ausie, he might prove to be the key to finding her sister. But her journey becomes a circle that leads her back home to attempt a family reunion and to find the one dream she no longer imagined possible-the chance to fall in love again.

Purchase the Book: http://ow.ly/nIIcx

Meet Anita: Best-selling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has over thirty books published (several coauthored) for adults and children. She’s been a Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston and has a BA degree, combining speech communication, psychology, and art. Anita loves good movies, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends.

Connect with Anita at: www.anitahigman.com

Anita Higman‘s latest novel, Winter in Full Bloom, has just released. She’s teamed up with her publisher, River North Fiction, for a fun giveaway and a Facebook Author Chat Party on August 29th. — That’s today!!

Join the party here.