A Favorite Childhood Book

I recently ran across an article in Book Riot (sorry, in spite of my searching, I cannot find it now to link it for you) about favorite childhood books and what they may say about your character.

It got me thinking about one of my favorites.

Turtle's Flying Lessons is a relatively unknown book though I did manage to find one on Amazon. I still have my copy and it's here next to me. As I thought through the plot and moral of the story, it was quickly apparent that this should indeed be a favorite. 

Turtle has a very sedentary, calm, quiet life. He has a settled life. Routine. He doesn't have to hurry, and he has no worry. He knows how his life is going to play out day by day. Pheasant and Grouse are his friends but they pity poor Turtle for his seemingly boring existence. They devise a plan to help Turtle bring some excitement into his life. Turtle is going to learn to fly. Or not. In spite of some very clever inventions and in spite of some very valiant effort, Turtle cannot fly. He is not created to fly. He is created for water. He is created for a slow pace. He finds his joy in being what he was created to be.

So now we discuss.

1. Do you know that I have, on more than one occasion, borne the nickname, "Turtle"? It's true. I am a turtle. I am slow about my business. My slowness leads to a lot of time day-dreaming. I need my daydream time.

2. I, like Turtle, enjoy my routine. I need the safety of not being hit by spur of the moment matters. (I can deal with those surprises, but I need routine.) I don't need flying lessons. I  need time to think.

3. While predictability seems boring to many, I find it energizing. I have been so insanely busy lately with Rod being out of town, Hannah deciding to join the Army and all that busy that came with it, the holidays--I have not had enough time to sit back and think about the important things, the quiet things.

All of this makes me wonder whether Mrs. Anna Brown (who gave me this book as a going away present when we were leaving Bonita) didn't see this in me already. I mean, was she telling me to embrace the quiet that was in me? Or, was it just a cute little book that she could give?

Whatever the case, I think that I AM TURTLE. And as I approach 50, I am okay with that. Everyone needs a quiet place sometimes because this world is chaos. I know very well how to be quiet.

This is my letter to the world...Or Why I don't do those letters

Dear Friends and Family,

The Rod Moore family has had an exciting marvelous fulfilling --they have had a year.

January saw us celebrating Hannah's birthday.

February saw us...um...breathing and eating and stuff.

March came and brought Rod a birthday. I think that's all besides the living stuff we continued from February.

April meant tax day. We observed that.

May allowed us to let Hannah officially quit homeschool and pass 3 of her 4 GEDs. She failed math by 1 point. But then she retook it and failed by 2 points. Hannah dug a deep hole of disappointment and moved in.

June brought us news that Rod had to travel. Two trips to California and one trip to Israel. No one knew when. Then only knew what. And also Mike had a birthday.

July was a 21st anniversary. That was cool. I can't remember how we celebrated or if we celebrated because regular life doesn't stop moving. Something else may or may not have happened, but that's okay because we were still doing the living stuff. I probably bought gas. And we waited on travel details because travel was supposed to happen in August. 

But August cancelled the trip at the last minute so I missed my mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary because Rod was going to be travelling so I needed to stay home and do the adulty things. But the travel changed and I missed things.

September brought me another birthday. We still all did the living stuff, and also we did the waiting on travel stuff. The waiting was growing obnoxious.

October was Sarah's turn for a birthday and Rod's travel was solidified. Unless they changed it, but they didn't. I also told my brother happy birthday. I think I also said that to my cousin but I can't remember.

November was TRAVELTIME! And Rod was gone for the following:
  1. Tabitha's 20th birthday
  2. Hannah's announcement that she was joining the army
  3. All of the insanity of having to get stuff for that above thing
  4. the Thanksgiving prep
  5. Tabitha's first date
But November let him come home for a week to enjoy Thanksgiving. And it let him skip the Israel trip.

Finally December. Rod was, of course, gone mostly. We still did the Army stuff and we got snowed in. And we did the living. Rod still gets to skip the Israel trip. But there is still time for December to change its mind or whisper wicked things to January.

Not the path I expected.

So, this happened.