I just finished a really good read:
These is My Words. I have to admit that there were times I couldn't put this book down! The book follows the life of a woman named Sarah in the late 1800's as she learns, loves and lives life. She wrestles with the same kinds of things women wrestle with now and deals with the struggles of settling the west. It is the kind of book that makes you realize how blessed you are and how alike life really is for all of us.
Sarah loves to learn and books are her treasure. She never had the chance to go to school. Don't let the title fool you, the book is well written. But she dreams of higher learning possibilities. She is constantly trying to fill her well of knowledge. Her husband was trained at West Point, but she actually doesn't learn this until after they are married. When she finds out she is worried that he sees her as ignorant. This is one of my favorite quotes from Captain Elliot, her husband, "Sarah, In the first place, you aren't ignorant...and in the second place, Education doesn't keep a person from being a fool, and the lack of it doesn't keep a person from being intelligent."
She is so thirsty to know things and later in the book she says, "Blue Horse said to me...'wisdom is not a path, it is a tree.' At the time I was too busy to give it much thought, so I nodded politely but didn't pay much attention. Now I see that he was surely right. I have been sad almost a whole year, thinking that taking that test was somehow the end of my learning and that not having that as a possibility in my future left a big empty spot in my life that the children and the ranch didn't fill. But my life is not like that, it is a tree, and I can stay in one place and spread out in all directions, and I can do more learning shading this brood of mine than if I was all alone. I declare, it is like some other part of me made up some rules about happiness and I just went along with them without thinking. My heart is lightened so much that I am amazed at how sad I felt for so long."
"I have donated a box of books to the library of the university, and paid for a tree to be planted near the fountain which will be built by the front steps..."
I think most Mothers have felt this way to some degree. Like there are so many things that they want to do and know. They want to be free to fly from tree to tree. But their children have ahold of them. And they are holding onto those children also. And really, that is the best thing there is. And there are other ways to fly. But if you grow as a tree then things do fly to you.
I have to say that I do love to read. It's one of my favorite Little Projects. I'm a big fan of words. They feed me somehow. And when I read them I feel like I do fly from one tree to the next. It's easiest when the children are napping...
Reading together is fun and it leads to lots of other learning when you take it to the next level.
Reading together is fun and it leads to lots of other learning when you take it to the next level.
