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Yes, I'm 40

Last Saturday was my birthday. It was big deal kind of birthday. To celebrate, Keith and I trekked to Florida's Gulf Coast, to the origins of me.

On Friday, we went to Honeymoon Island State Park with the intention of enjoying it and Caladesi Island. Since a storm front was rolling in and a small craft advisory was in effect, the ferry to Caladesi was not running, so we had to settle for Honeymoon Island. We walked up the beach as far as we could, looking for shells and other interesting sea life. It wasn't so bad with the wind to our backs. When we turned around, the wind and sand weren't very pleasant. When the pelting, stinging rain started, I was pretty much done with Honeymoon Island.

After we de-sanded and -salted ourselves, we headed to downtown Dunedin for dinner at a neat little Mexican restaurant and some window shopping at some cute little shops. When we walked out to the municipal marina, the sun finally shone just long enough to set. Then, we made a detour--literally; the road was closed--around the hospital where I was born.

Saturday we went into Tarpon Springs to buy a clean sponge and to enjoy a yummy lunch of Greek food before heading back to Orlando.

Our Saturday evening small group turned into a social event/birthday party later that night. It's just difficult to be serious when you're having so much fun turning 40.

Recent Reading: Dracula

Dracula by Bram Stoker. When I was a kid, on Saturday afternoons, our local channel 44 ran Creature Feature, which was typically a cheesy horror movie hosted by Dr. Paul Bearer. This was probably my first introduction to vampires. When, as a teenager, I read Stephen King's Salem's Lot, I was fairly sold on the merits of vampires as entertainment. Over the years, I've read a few Anne Rice vampire books and seen more than a few episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but I am by no means a vampire junkie (I'm standing firm on not reading any of the Twilight books). If I were a vampire junkie, I would have read Dracula a long time ago, I guess.

The sum-up: I loved Dracula. The flawed characters, the heroes, the villains, the weak-willed women, the strong Mina Harker, the gradual unravelling of the story from various points of view, and the intricacies of the storyline. And a strong Texan never makes for bad reading, does he?

It's a wonder I haven't read this book before now. It's not just a horror classic; I think it is good literature and good fiction. I was intrigued by the art of the storytelling as Stoker spun out the story slowly, dropping hints and planting characters and suggestions along the way. Caught up in the epistolary style--the letters, journals, newspaper clippings--of the book, I was taken aback when Mina Harker started assembling all those pieces in the actual telling of the book. But afterward, whenever her party of vampire slayers would refer to the reams of work they'd collected on Count Dracula, I felt like part of their party--I had the same reams of their work in my very hands. Nice touch.

I am of a similar mind with my friend, Toni, who, upon finishing Dracula, began to read Frankenstein. My shelf of books such as Doctor Faustus, The Adventures of Dorian Gray, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seems to be beckoning me.

Recent Reading: Drops Like Stars

Drops Like Stars by Rob Bell. This is a visually beautiful and artistic book that bills itself as "an exploration of the complex relationship between suffering and creativity, driven by the belief that there is art in the agony." Though it is about 150 pages long, it took very little time to read it... largely because many of the pages only had a few words on them. I said it was artistic and beautiful.

I have great interest in both subjects: suffering and creativity. I've suffered, and I'm creative. Then, the book opened with the beautiful story-image of a man who visits the same hospital twice in the same year--once for the miscarriage of a grandchild and another time for the birth of a grandchild. Suffering and joy cohabitating the same hallways. But then the book devolved into a collection of interesting stories and quotes.

I know several people who are infatuated with Rob Bell's message to the masses. While I do find him to be well-educated and to possess a broad knowledge base, my personal experiences with his work have not significantly enriched my life. This book in particular ended very abruptly for my taste and had me flipping many blank pages to find the real point of the message. I didn't find it. Perhaps because I believe that the works of Christian pastors should always lead the reader to Christ in some way, and Drops Like Stars didn't deliver on that expectation.

Roger in Moving Pictures

Thirty-nine seconds into this video on the web site of The Ledger, Roger is marching in place almost in the middle of the video screen. And at 3:57, Kim's sister and nephew can be seen watching the buses pull away from The Lakeland Center.

Down Range

Yesterday was the official ceremony sending my brother's unit of the Florida National Guard off to Fort Hood en route to the Middle East.

Even though this is Roger's second deployment to that area of the world, this is different from the last time. In 2003, he was deployed with just a handful of soldiers; this year, about 2500 Florida National Guardsmen deployed. Several months after Roger deployed to Iraq in 2003, Keith and I undertook our own deployment-of-sorts and moved to Texas; right now, we don't even have an inkling of a desire to move. In 2003, Roger was married and spent a good deal of time worrying about his wife (now ex); this time, his girlfriend is on the same deployment, which may present its own special set of worries.

This year, we will pray for Roger daily, send lots of care packages, proudly support him from a distance, and yearn for the day when he comes home. If God lays it on your heart, we would appreciate your prayers, too.

Recent Reading: Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Our book club read Things Fall Apart as our last selection. Admittedly, I've never read any African fiction and wasn't exactly keen on using my precious pre-holiday reading time to explore it. The group gave the book mixed reviews, ranging from "It was okay, but I'm glad I read it" to "I loved it and will definitely recommend it." Amazingly enough, Keith and I were both in the "loved it" camp.

Consider this to be fair warning: If you want to read a book and like the main character, this is not the book for you. Okonkwo has a few redeeming moments, but fundamentally he is a hard man with hard hands and hard ways. As a matter of fact, during our book discussion, we entertained the question, "Is there a character that you identify with or will take with you?" That was a difficult question that mostly received a resounding "no." (However, there is one scene with Okonkwo's second wife, Ekwefi, that will likely stay with me for a long while.)

Even if I'm not particularly fond of the characters, I was smitten with the language and the rhythms of the book and could almost hear the drumbeats in certain passages. I appreciate any book that can transport me to a land I don't know, make me think of life in a different way, and help me understand characters living their own lives in ways I would never otherwise know.

Three Things That Kept Christmas From Being Perfect

1. Food Poisoning. On Wednesday, we went out to dinner. Thursday, Christmas Eve, was bad.
2. No Internet. My web site and e-mail were down from Friday to Sunday. I couldn't keep up electronically.
3. A Cold. I awoke from my Christmas afternoon nap with the beginnings of a cold. Hopefully yesterday was the worst of it.

Other than those little things, our Christmas was spectacular. I hope yours was, too.

Recent Reading: The Hobbit

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Yes, I've read this before. And, yes, I do love it. I am, after all, the woman with the "Let's Hunt Some Orc" tag on her car and the nearly life-sized Aragorn.

We read this selection for our latest Book Club gathering, at which Keith led the discussion, which was so much fun for me to watch, because he loves the book more than I do. Prior to the Book Club meeting, I was certain that Keith was going to ask us to name all thirteen dwarves, so I diligently practiced and memorized them (probably can't name Snow White's dwarves, but I can Bilbo's, even though Keith didn't ask). Here they are with no cheating: Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Kili, Fili, Bombur, Bifur, Bofur, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, and Ori.

I was also almost certain that he would try to lead the discussion in some Elvish language but was spared having to practice that.

I enjoy the fantasy, the adventure, the danger, the dragon, the treasure, the tiny hero, and even the touches of humor. But with this reading, I began to think that Bilbo's party should have lost a dwarf or two on its way to the Lonely Mountain. Surely a greater sense of real danger would heighten my reading of the book, right? Just a thought. And I am a little concerned about Tolkien's recurring device of using the eagles to save everyone's hides. But other than those little things, the book continues to capture my attention and make me dream of dragons and brave heroes and magical adventures.

Using Her Gifts to Help Others

The most recent article I had published in The Southwest Orlando Bulletin is about Ashleigh Ciambriello, an active local teenager who is in her first year at Ithaca College in New York.

Recent Reading: Einstein's Dreams

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. It's a rite of passage for all freshmen on campus to read the same book and participate in discussions. This year, somebody at Agnes Scott College had the fun idea to create alumna book clubs around the country so that we, too, could participate in this annual ritual.

So in anticipation of spending an evening with some fellow Scotties, I read this book. Unfortunately, the day after the scheduled book discussion, Keith was scheduled for a surgical procedure, so I didn't attend the book club. It sounds like I missed a lively discussion, so much so that the ladies involved want to meet once a quarter to discuss a book. I'm in for that.

But back to Einstein. I read this book a month ago and have thought about what it is that left me not feeling the love for this book. Every chapter is only two or three pages long, and the book is a fast read. So what's the problem? Here it is: I wanted more.

For years, Keith and I have joked at various times about doing like Einstein and taking a nap to solve a problem. Therefore, the idea of this fictional look at what Einstein actually may have dreamt about while formulating his theory of relativity was fascinating to me. Each chapter is a discrete dream, with a couple of "interlude" chapters that give a snapshot of Einstein in waking moments. Each chapter is almost like a different world where time operates differently. In one world, there is a center of time where time actually stands still. In another dream, everyone knows the exact moment of the end of the world (and then gather together holding hands like Whos on Christmas morning while the world ends). In yet another world, time moves backwards.

It truly is a fascinating idea for a book. But I wanted more detail about each of the worlds, about how the people lived and felt. But maybe Lightman's strategy was brilliant. Give me just enough detail to make my own brain work on filling in those missing pieces.

A Shower A Day

Sunday morning, Keith and I went to a co-ed baby shower in honor of the newest addition to the Cooper family, a little girl schedule to be delivered into this world on December 14. Not only was it fun to get a head-start on celebrating this little life, it was also fun to watch the men squirm and be uncomfortable at a shower. They quickly got over it when the games began and their competitiveness overshadowed the discomfort. But as it turns out, I'm pretty good at baby shower games that don't involve not saying the word "baby" and tied for first place in two of the three games we played.

One of the games our lovely hostess, Danielle, coordinated was the always-entertaining "Guess the Baby" game. It's fun to see your friends a million years ago, either looking exactly the same but smaller or looking like totally different people. Unfortunately, if your name is David, you might mistake an adult woman for a male child. And then the adult woman would have to give you a very hard time about that.

I thought it would be fun to share our pictures from the game. So that no one is embarrassed by confusing us one for the other, Keith is on the little four-wheeler, and I am wearing the red dress and holding the Easter basket. Keith's picture was taken in El Paso (see all the sand?) in 1969, and mine was taken in Florida in 1971.

Now that I think about it maybe this photo shoot started Keith's fascination with motorcycles. Maybe mine started my fascination with bags.

Oh My Darling Clemmonses

This past weekend, we had the great joy of seeing some friends from Texas. David and Stephanie Clemmons, who have this very infrequently updated blog, are in Orlando this week introducing Parker and Caroline to the wonders of Disney World. To our utter delight, they flew in a day early to spend time with us. Not only did we get to just enjoy one another's company, but they met some of our friends here, Stephanie experienced Publix for the first time ever, and they introduced us to Geocaching.

I'm no expert at geocaching, but I'll do my best to provide a brief primer. Normal, everyday people put together fairly weather-tight little treasure parcels and cleverly hide them in remote and even frequented areas. They then post the coordinates of the cache on a web site, which allows people to use a GPS and possibly some hints to locate the cache. Inside is a logbook to sign, maybe some trinkets to trade, and perhaps even a travel bug that would like to make its way to another cache somewhere. After a treasure hunter finds a cache and signs the logbook, he or she then goes back to the web site and makes note of the find.

On Saturday afternoon, we walked to two nearby caches, which Keith found. Ta-da! (The photo is of Steph returning the logbook to the first cache before Parker returned it to its hiding place.) Then on Sunday morning, as we were headed to Disney, we decided to scout out another nearby cache. Stephanie found it. I didn't find a geocache, but I did stumble upon another, more low-tech treasure known as a Letterbox. Ta-da!

On the way home from Disney, Keith was playing with the Geocaching iPhone app (yes, there's an app for that) and said, "There's a cache just up here on the right." So we pulled into a city park and traipsed through the woods to find our first solo cache. Ta-da!

Who knew there was so much cheap fun to be had so close to home?

Living Her Dream

Early last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Barb Simon, who was embarking on a new phase of life and starting her own radio show. (Article here.) Well, Barb is moving up in the world and continues to positively glow about the wonderful things that are happening in her life. Here's an article about some of the recent changes in her life and career.

The Great Faith Debate

On last Thursday, September 17, which happens to have been my little brother's birthday, my two Keiths (husband and uncle), myself, and a couple of friends met up with about 7,000 more people at UCF Arena to watch The Great Faith Debate between atheist Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and Christian apologist Dinesh D'Souza, author of What's So Great About Christianity and What's So Great About America.

I have been a fan of D'Souza's since reading What's So Great About America many years ago in a book club. He made a compelling, logical argument to support his thesis and won me over, which maybe wasn't so difficult since I was already in the camp that believes America is great.

My familiarity with D'Souza's logical thinking made me very excited about the debate, which sought to pose three questions (What about God?; What about Christianity and other religions?; and What about science and reason?). It was a fairly lively debate, much of which you can easily find with a quick YouTube search.

D'Souza did not disappoint, stating clearly that he was making his arguments based on reason and not on Biblical revelation. Anyone who knows me will certainly know that I am a Christian and, therefore, inclined to automatically side with D'Souza. Likewise, anyone who knows me well will certainly know that I like to be intellectually challenged and am not afraid to look at two or more sides of an argument, regardless of whether I believe them or consider them to have any truth. So knowing very little about Hitchens except that he had written this book whose title alone makes me cringe, I approached this event assuming that Hitchens is (and, yes, he is) a very intelligent man and was looking forward to a logical argument to support his identification with atheism. I was disappointed. Aside from calling Isaac Newton a "raging crackpot," the most profound thing Hitchens said all night was that his primary belief system is that people should risk thinking for themselves and assume all responsibility and consequences for that risk. He believes that is the most important thing about being human.

Maybe the best part of the evening was meeting D'Souza and getting my books autographed. He was a bit surprised to see my copy of What's So Great About America, and now I have two more autographed books on my shelves.

Recent Reading: Rebecca

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I am very much enjoying reading the classics selections with my new book club; however, when I see the word "romance" or "romantic" anywhere on the front cover, I lose interest. So when I bought my copy of Rebecca and read "The classic tale of romantic suspense" on the cover, I could not immediately start reading it. But when I did start, I read it rapidly, wanting desperately to find out why this couple lives in hotels and has settled into a routine of reading the English news rather than going home to experience it. I was not disappointed. (I was also pleased that the most "romance" in the book was this: "We began to kiss one another, feverishly, desperately, like guilty lovers who have not kissed before." Whew.)

I'm intrigued by the idea that du Maurier wrote an entire novel and didn't name the narrator; I spent much of the book not liking Maxim very much; and I wanted to jump into the book and throw Mrs. Danvers out the window on more than one occasion.

One of my favorite lines comes when Beatrice is conjecturing about the death of Rebecca. "A Communist, perhaps. There are heaps of them about. Just the sort of thing a Communist would do." I was so absorbed in the mystery and suspense at the time that I laughed out loud at the unexpected insertion of Communists into the plot.

Then, after I finished the book, I turned it over and read the brief bio blurb on the back cover, which sparked my memory and endeared du Maurier to me even more. Daphne du Maurier also wrote the short story "The Birds," which became the Hitchcock movie The Birds.

Happy Birthday, Keith

Today is Keith's birthday. Please join me in wishing him a good day with many many many more years to follow.

Recent Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I admit it. As a grown and married woman in the mid-90s, I was addicted to Wishbone. That cute little Jack Russell terrier introduced me to a lot of classic literature I'd never read, as well as cutened (is too a word) a lot of works I was already familiar with. So when my book club chose to read The Count of Monte Cristo as last month's selection, I already had a passing knowledge of this revenge fiction and very little desire to actually take the time to read it.

Then I was reminded by Toni that it is one of her all-time favorite books (don't get too excited--she has a lot of all-time favorite books). And then Keith devoured the book like he doesn't usually do for non-science fiction reading. And Danielle mentioned how much she was enjoying it. When I finally opened the book to start reading, I was very pleased to find it so intriguing that I wanted to read it to the exclusion of everything else going on. And even though all that revenge-taking can really take a toll on a person's soul, I would like to think that Edmond Dantes found peace.

The cast of characters is expansive, the whole idea of this elaborate revenge over the top, and the abridgment much-appreciated. It was fun to compare different abridgments at book club; however, it was irritating to have to go to different sources to fill in some important blanks missing from my Barnes & Noble Classics edition.

A brief note about Alexandre Dumas: I was interested to find that his life reminded me a bit of our previous book club author, Robert Louis Stevenson. Both were described as leading Bohemian lifestyles, both travelled extensively and used those travels to flavor their works, and both died of strokes. And then there's the idea that I think Monte Cristo is actually the Treasure Island.

Hotel Go Boom

You may remember way back in May when we went to watch the implosion of the Colony Plaza hotel in Ocoee. I wrote an article for the Southwest Orlando Bulletin about that special event. Check it out here.

A Chat with a Teen Leader

Katherine Pulker is a college freshman with a unique view of the world. Click here to read the article I wrote about her for the Southwest Orlando Bulletin.

15 Books

A couple of months ago, a friend tagged me on Facebook to list 15 books that will always stick with me. Though there are so many more books that belong on this list, these are the first 15 that came to mind.

1. The Adventures of Benjamin Pink by Garth Williams. I read this about a million times when I was a kid.
2. All things Hardy Boys. I had them all. In hard back. And read them compulsively.
3. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. See how I cheat and get a lot more books on the list?
4. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. Any writer who can make me fall in love with a character earns my undying respect. It's up to you to figure out which character I love.
5. Anything with "Harry Potter" in the title by JK Rowling. I'm not in love with any character here, just the whole world.
6. Dennis Lehane books, especially the Patrick Kenzie books. See note on #4 about falling in love.
7. The Doomsday Spiral by Jon Land. This was the first spy thriller I ever read. It hooked me on Jon Land if not the genre.
8. Salem's Lot by Stephen King. A nurse at the hospital gave me this book when my brother was really ill. It diverted my attention from his near-death experience (selfish, huh?) and won King a place in my heart.
9. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. What Southern writer wouldn't worship this book?
10. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons. At the time I read it, it felt personal.
11. Going to Ground by Amy Blackmarr. Again, I think timing can do a lot for a book, but I admire the way she can weave an essay.
12. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I've long held to the notion that any book that can make me laugh out loud deserves some credit. I picked this book up in the bookstore one day, opened it, read a passage, and laughed out loud. Sold.
13. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. I'm not much of a re-reader (except for the first 5 on this list), but I do read this book every couple of years.
14. Judith Ortiz Cofer's books, The Line of the Sun and Silent Dancing. This is a two-fer, because her work introduced me to a wider world of literature.
15. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Read it, and you'll understand.