A very cute story that gave me a new appreciation for elephants...even though the book isn't really about elephants. It's the story of Jacob Jankowski's life with the circus in Depression-era America. I love period pieces...it's fascinating to learn how people lived in past generations.
But I'm not writing tonight to rant and rave about this book. While it is a good story and I highly recommend reading it, my plan is to share this one simple passage from the book that really struck a cord in me:
"Those were the salad days, the halcyon years! The sleepless nights, the wailing babies; the days the interior of the house looked like it had been hit by a hurricane; the times I had five kids, a chimpanzee, and a wife in bed with fever. Even when the fourth glass of milk got spilled in a single night, or the shrill screeching threatened to split my skull, or when I was bailing out some son or other--or, in one memorable instance, Bobo--from a minor predicament at the police station, they were the good years, grand years.
But it all zipped by. One minute Marlena and I were in it up to our eyeballs, and the next thing we knew the kids were borrowing the car and fleeing the coop for college."
I loved this passage because this is my life! My oldest son is finishing up his freshman year in high school. He will be 15 this summer which means only one more year until he starts driving. My daughter is 13 and my youngest son is 10. It wasn't that long ago that I had three screaming children running around our little house. Oh, believe me it still gets very loud! But I can't help but feel melancholy at times when I realize how quickly the time is zipping by.
I started out as a stay-at-home mom and became a work-at-home mom and I'm so glad I made that choice. I feel so blessed to be able to look back and know that I have 'been here' for my kids...to enjoy the small moments that make the greatest memories.
I realize I still have a long way to go, but at the same time, the years are flying by faster than I ever dreamed! When I read this passage I was so touched by it...I had to read it again and again to absorb every last word. "Wow!", I thought. Right here...right now...we are smack dab in the middle of our "Salad Days, the Halcyon Years"!
Just sharing...more to come...
Until then,
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