About two years ago, I read Amanda Rawson Hill's Middle Grade debut: The Three Rules of Everyday Magic. It's one of those books that spoke to my fifth grade heart, and which I plan on sharing with my kids someday. Amanda Rawson Hill has done it again with her debut Picture Book, but this time she spoke to my child, teenage, young adult, and maturing heart. The truth is, the older I get, the more I want my mom and dad with me. That's not to say I had a bad relationship with them when I was younger, but I remember many times in my life when all I wanted was for them to "get lost." I wanted to "get out of the house," and "be with my friends." I pretended not to like my dad's kisses and hid the fact that I was inhaling my mom's smell when she hugged me.
I visited China after graduating from college, and I felt like my Dad was with me because when he was fighting the war in Vietnam, he got to go "on leave" to Hong Kong. So I grew up with him telling me about the crazy landing strip with water on both sides and the beach where he and a buddy went for a swim. I moved a state away in hopes to discover myself but instead, I said things like my mom and did things like my dad. It used to bother me. Why couldn't I be me without them? But over time, that feeling turned from anger and frustration into heartfelt gratitude and longing to be even more like them. Basically, you can find me in Amanda Rawson Hill's new book. I'm always looking for my mom and dad... in everything I do now. I look for them in my book collection, in my baking skills, and love for traveling. I find them when I get mad or sad. I find them when I'm scared but, thankfully, they are (as my mom reminds me all the time), a "phone call away."
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |