Silver Linings
The perfect book always seems to arrive on time. SILVER LININGS landed on my porch this afternoon. The book is full of homespun wisdom, old saws that still sparkle, still photographs that seem sunny. Many of the essays are manufactured and tired, other thoughts are delightful prose. I glance at each page, drawing from it a smile or a memory.
When I was a kid, the other children called me Pollyanna. I was always trying to see the bright side, despite the yelling and the hitting, the swearing and the touching in my house.
We lived in the suburbs, but the woods behind our house hadn't been developed yet. And, there I found jack o'lanterns and ancient oak trees, whose thick low branches easily supported my weight, and even a trickling brook that dwindled to near nothing. I walked through the shallow woods any time I could escape, being scratched by thorns, bitten by mosquitoes, entranced by the lightning bugs, and I was in my own heaven. On special days, I could see elves and fairies, and angels. When I was around seven, I considered myself a Pantheist. I heard that word -- which I interpreted as the divine in every creature, even rocks -- and I embraced it. I kept that perception secret.
One day I saw a deer with a small rack on his head, standing on the hill that led from the woods into our backyard. So close to us, the deer had safely traveled a few miles from his home in the mountains. Excited, I broke my rule to keep special beauty secret from my mother and stepfather. I yelled, "A deer! A deer!" And, they immediately called someone to take the deer away. I couldn't watch, and I felt so guilty.
In SILVER LININGS, an Anne Frank quote pops into view: Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. It was a summer night, the night of the deer, and I wandered back outside -- secretly -- after dark. The stars sprinkled across the entire sky, lifting my spirits. There's a Vincent Van Gogh quote in the book: For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
When I was a kid, the other children called me Pollyanna. I was always trying to see the bright side, despite the yelling and the hitting, the swearing and the touching in my house.
We lived in the suburbs, but the woods behind our house hadn't been developed yet. And, there I found jack o'lanterns and ancient oak trees, whose thick low branches easily supported my weight, and even a trickling brook that dwindled to near nothing. I walked through the shallow woods any time I could escape, being scratched by thorns, bitten by mosquitoes, entranced by the lightning bugs, and I was in my own heaven. On special days, I could see elves and fairies, and angels. When I was around seven, I considered myself a Pantheist. I heard that word -- which I interpreted as the divine in every creature, even rocks -- and I embraced it. I kept that perception secret.
One day I saw a deer with a small rack on his head, standing on the hill that led from the woods into our backyard. So close to us, the deer had safely traveled a few miles from his home in the mountains. Excited, I broke my rule to keep special beauty secret from my mother and stepfather. I yelled, "A deer! A deer!" And, they immediately called someone to take the deer away. I couldn't watch, and I felt so guilty.
In SILVER LININGS, an Anne Frank quote pops into view: Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. It was a summer night, the night of the deer, and I wandered back outside -- secretly -- after dark. The stars sprinkled across the entire sky, lifting my spirits. There's a Vincent Van Gogh quote in the book: For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
Labels: Anne Frank, books, deer, kids, Pantheist, Pollyanna, SILVER LININGS, Vincent Van Gogh, violence, woods
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 10:52 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home