Thanksgiving

Top ten things I'm thankful for:

1. My children and I are healthy. No matter what I complain about,  I have decidedly first world problems.

2. I have two jobs that I like. They allow me to eat cheaply and provide for my family. They have both been flexible with me and allowed me to have time with my children and go to school.

3. I work with people that I love, who have hugged me when I cried, encouraged me, left their phones on late at night in case I needed them, called me when I was at my lowest lows, and soothed me. I love you people.

3. My children are my greatest treasure. They are awesome and smart and super funny.

4. I'm grateful for therapy. I think it has probably saved my life in a couple ways. Devoting time to my life and well being this way is time well spent.

5. Amazing technology has made my life so much easier. I can deposit checks, get directions,  grocery shop, listen to audio books, sell crap on eBay,  and do homework on my phone. Remember Penny's awesome computer book thing from Inspector Gadget? I totally have that.
6. I love my apartment and I love its location.

7. I have a startlingly good memory and I'm so glad.

8. Affordable healthcare is coming soon!

9. I am thankful to be feeling and experiencing what life has to offer, even if some of it has hurt.

10. I'm so grateful that my herniated disc feels so much better. I'm grateful for Mickey, physical therapy on YouTube, Harvest Moon and my heating pad for getting me through it.

The Things They Carried

This collection of short stories not only stand alone,  but bind together in a long intertwining nonlinear narrative. Initially, I hated this book. The first story about weights and measures of weapons that I didn't understand, and the cast of young male characters that I could not tell apart aggravated me. The story grew on me and I ended up really liking it. I never would have read it if I had not been made to because of school, and I am glad I did.

What I enjoyed about this book was the reflection. We all have something,  some trauma that feels like it nearly did us in. The major tragedy in our life haunts us in the dark night and makes quiet moments inside our head difficult. We hope that we do not have to live through anything worse than that thing. For the first part of my life, mine was the carbon monoxide suicide and accidental death of my grandmother and grandfather respectively. More recently, it was my ugly divorce and the subsequent loss of my family of origin as they sided with my ex-husband and left me by the wayside. Whenever I reflect, there these things are.

The moment the main character struggles with fleeing to Canada was a particularly well illustrated story. Elroy Berdahl is a stranger that does an extraordinary kindness in a dark hour. Tim O'Brien painted that turning point so vividly that my heart ached in throbbing empathy. I set the book down and laid my head back and cried.

The author is grappling. It's difficult. He fought a war he did not believe in. He saw things people should not see. He is still struggling. He cannot sleep. His family does not understand why he does not let it go.

I enjoyed the use of self aware metafiction. The story knows it is a story. It is conscious of itself.  It knows why it is a story and why that helps with the grappling. I felt that the main drive of the novel was that the author wanted to give us a story to give himself closure.

Names For The 2014 baby

Neandertom
Orzo
Coblinn
Spherical
Copter

Thornado