......revelations of one woman's reality of life, love, and all things hopeful...

Monday, August 10, 2009

embarrassed children

Today I was thinking about a little book I read a couple of years ago at the beach. The book cover is doused in water spots and the edges are tattered. I planted myself under that beach umbrella covered in my SPF 2000 and read the thing cover to cover.

I'm referring to Mitch Albom's for one more day, a facinating story of a washed-out profressional baseball player who, on the very verge of suicide, is given the opportunity to spend the day with his mother. Here's the catch...the mother had died eight years previously. "...What follows is the one 'ordinary' day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain family secrets, and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together."

Now that you have the back story, here's the part I was thinking about...

"I didn't mean anything by it, Mom," I whispered.

"By what?"

"Being embarrassed. By you, or your clothes or...your situation."

She rinsed the shampoo from her hands, then directed the water to Rose's scalp.

"A child embarrassed by his mother," she said, "is just a child who hasn't lived long enough."

Wow. The child embarrassed by his mother is just a child who hasn't lived long enough.

Well said, mom.

I would add...A child who bullies another child....A child who disprects his teacher...A child who fears the opinions of her peers...A child who is afraid to try...
I really don't recall ever being embarrassed by my parents. I do wish that I could do some things again...this time a little differently. I'm trying to do some things differently now, so perhaps in the future I won't wish for just one more day.

I think this little novella should be required reading for everyone.

It changed my life.







2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The book is great! I cried and cried and cried! Love you shay

Anonymous said...

Merci d'avoir un blog interessant