gratitude

lately we've had a particularly lovely little mountain of library books. some things we've enjoyed a lot in the last few weeks: 

-I Had A Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn 

-On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole

-Letter to the Lake by Susan Marie Swanson

-Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

-All of the Oliver Jeffers books


- All of the Clarice Bean books by Lauren Child, and the Pippi Longstocking version by the same author

-The Mouse and His Child by Richard Hoban (and also his Frances audio collection read by the wonderfully throaty Glynis Johns.)

tonight we read An Awesome Book of Thanks by Dallas Clayton (the whole sweet thing can be read here). it inspired a good talk with adah-- she was particularly struck by the pages that describe how bad things can turn out to be good. i told her my favorite story along that theme, with appropriate modifications and brevity in some areas:

when i was about 19, i reallyreallyreally wanted an internship with GLSEN in san francisco. it was a competitive position, but because i knew everything there was to know about being gay and every possible statistic and challenge faced by queer youth and teachers, i felt pretty confident that i was going to get the job.  i was so naively confident that i filled out the antioch co-op papers, made concrete plans to rent an apartment in the city with my besties,  got on a train to montana to visit my baby nephew, and told my friends to pick me up in the van on the way to california. 

then i got the "it was a tough decision, but..." call and didn't get the job.  bet you saw that coming. i was devastated. there were tears and most likely immediate drunkenness, because that's how i rolled in those days. 

i called my co-op advisor and said randomly, "maybe i should move to boston." (huh?)

she said, "i did the responsible thing and made alternate arrangements for you, in portland. i called bonnie tinker and love makes a family would love to have a new intern."

more whining ensued. i did not want to go to portland.  i did not want to work for love makes a family. even so, my friends picked me up in montana and drove me to portland. you know what happened when i got there? 

lots of things. but to sum it up, i met bonnie tinker on her 50th birthday and became her intern the next day. over those months i stayed, she showed me the mountains and showed me the coast, and welcomed me into her family as if i were another daughter of her and sara's.  on many days she drove me nuts with her demands, but she taught me more than i can express, especially about the importance of courage and family. i knew that after i graduated i would start my life here-- where she was, where they were. 

seven years later, her son, with love and intention, would help anne and i have our adah.

see?