Wonder

 Seriously, drop what you're doing right now and buy this book, Wonder. 

Go...I'll wait.............  You're a genius for taking my advice. 

I love reading and I'm a big 'reader' but not many books literally change my life. It's been years ..... ( since the Poisonwood Bible to be exact, about 6 years ago).... that I felt a book really changed me. Wonder hit the spot and came at the PERFECT time.

As I glide through motherhood (like how I made that sound relaxing & seamless? :) I find myself pondering questions....trying to draw conclusions to make me a better parent...trying to remedy 'baggage' I may be holding on to that could damage the way Isla views the world or deals with tough issues...Questions like: 

How do you raise a self confident girl? 

How do I protect her and let her discover the world (and all its risks) as well?

How do I teach her decency and kindness?

Since reading Wonder that last question is one I have thought a lot about. I discussed it with my book club of fabulous ladies (good pick L!), pondered it with other Moms of little girls and with my Hubby. I believe we're all born decent and kind but as we move into society and muddle through lessons in friendship and relationships we can become jaded by our negative experiences. It requires experience  to deal with negative situations with grace, decency and kindness and when you hurt someone or know you were wrong, it takes strength to look back and own your mistakes but desire to be better next time. These are lessons I hope to help Isla work through as she grows. 

The beginning chapters of this book are told by a child, Auggie who has an altered appearance due to a birth defect. The following chapters are in the voice of his Sister, Sister's Friend and his Best Friend. The book explores his experiences in school with friends and other kids' parents, as well as his own parents struggle to immerse him in public experiences (including school) while still protecting him. The deeper theme in the book is one that I think we all need to remind ourselves of : 

Be Kind. Someone else may be struggling just as you are. 

Everyone's busy and sees their own problems but many of us forget that others are struggling with their own issues that are just as important to them as yours are to you. 

At one point, I was holding Isla in our rocker and reading when I put the book down and realized this isn't just about Auggie's struggle with his appearance and the way kids treat him, this is also about the struggles of his Sister, his Parents and his Best Friend. I held her close and cryed beautiful happy tears through the last two chapters....it was a perfect cry, like the one you get at the end of Mr. Holland's Opus (Tell me you've seen that movie....seriously go watch it, go...I'll wait.)

It was so fitting that after reading this book I was reading through facebook and saw a girl I knew from high school post a rant about how she was dealing with medical issues and some of the people she was the closest to werent' there for her when she was going through it. Many people jumped on the bandwagon and filled the responses with rants of their own. Gotta love mob mentality. Her Mom went on and said, "Honey, don't be too quick to judge. You never know what others may be struggling with as well. It doesn't mean they don't care about you, they just may not know how to help you or talk to you. Reach out to them if you need them. I love you." Proves once again, Mom's know best! :)

In the wake of the bombings in Boston I thought of a quote from this book from Auggie's Mom, "There are always going to be jerks in the world, Auggie. But I really believe, and Daddy really believes that there are more good people on this Earth than bad people, and the good people watch out for each other and take care of each other..."

Isn't that the truth. 

xoxo-S