MEMORIAL DAY GRATITUDE!

Veterans are special!

Daddy being chief among them!

I still recall the story prim and proper Mother told of taking a bus to Indianapolis to greet my wounded in the leg Daddy. He was returning from Lety in the Philippines where he was shot by a sniper in a tree as he led his platoon. Some, Daddy included, had walked through their own shoes.

Mother was in a taxi approaching hotel with rollers still in her hair when she saw Daddy crossing the street. 

Forget the rollers! She jumped out of the "cab" and ran to him. Though injured, he picked her up and swung her around.

The most wonderful memory in her life!

CHOOSE JOY in READING

Choose joy in reading by selecting books that touch the heart.

There's no such thing as a good book written just for children!

If a book is well written it can appeal to all ages.

That's my philosophy and I'm sticking by it.

I often choose to read books that touch the heart----not sappy books, but endearing ones. Some, such as All the Light We Cannot See, with 544 pages are on Best Sellers Shelf. Others are found in the "kiddie lit" section. That's where this week I found, Tucky Jo and Little Heart, unpaged. (Unpaged is library-speak for picture books. No page numbers.) Both are set during World War II---one in France against the Nazi's and the other in the Philippines with the Japanese occupation. Both touched my heart.

Maybe the Philippines setting book reminded me of the rare times when Daddy, a Kentuckian, would answer my questions about the months he was on the isle of Leyte in WWII, where he was wounded by a Japanese sniper/soldier. A wound that saved his life. He was "hospitalized" there, think MASH, and thus removed from the war. The next day his entire unit, of which he was the Sergeant in charge, was killed when they resumed their reconnaissance with a "sub" platoon leader. He wore that guilt for the rest of his life, I think.

Today's choice not only touched my heart, it blessed my heart with memories of Daddy and gratitude for all the US vets who served In the Pacific in WWII.

"In the Boat"

I have just started reading, The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown., even though I had said that I was going to ease up on "war" books because no matter how well written, there was an element of horror that saddens me. At least this one is pre WWII.
Brown had me in the prologue. To Joe, "the boat" was something  mysterious and almost beyond definition.It was a shared experience--a singular thing that had occurred in a golden sliver of time long gone, when nine good-hearted young menstrove together, pulled together as one, gave everythng they had for one another, bound together forever by pride, and respect and love."(p.2)
If the rest of the book grabs me like the prologue, I'm in for a "goodread."

I get it, albeit in less dramatic experiences. In my Christian walk, I have found a depth to relationship shared with believers on the same side of the struggle, whether it be grief, worry, or cancer.

Growing up, I knew what it meant when someone said, "we are all in the same boat." But I like Joe Rantz's positive meaning better.

SABBATH SNAPSHOT: beyond disibili-TEA

World War II is the backdrop for Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See. What a book! What a read!
I did NOT want to read one more book that dealt with war---too disturbing, too heavy, too horrific, too real!
But....this novel had me by page 7 ---"as the leaflets dropped"---"she could smell the ink."
Short chapters, some only 1-2 pages long, bounce back and forth between the two protagonists; a young blind girl, whose mind has a love of literature and dependence on her dad, who carefully instructs her in order to foster independence, along with the corresponding life of a young German lad, fascinated by science, but orphaned and living with his sister in a children's home. 
Hauntingly beautiful is how NYTimes review describes it. (4/28) 
Too much info would constitute a spoiler----just know that the author easily and skillfully weaves wartime training, Jules Verne, radio transmissions, museum treasures, a "Sea of Flames'" legendary curse, sabotaging neighbors, snails from the sea, and a sister's insight and conscience into a an intriguing World War II narrative.

Tho it's taken awhile to get through 534 pages, the setting created so much interest that I googled Saint-Malo---and if I were not so averse to the hassle and fears of foreign travel these days, I might put it on my bucket list, because thanks to Doerr, I feel as if I've been there and would like to see what remains.

I didn't like to read it at night because I wouldn't want to put it down......at the same time, it would "key me up" so I had trouble going to sleep. It's not totally absent of language and some vile situations but very,very few considering this was a "war" book. I thought it was a worthy read.