"Southerners can never resist a losing cause." Rhett Butler

Oh Scarlett. Oh Rhett! Why are you so frustratingly stubborn and stupid?


I read Gone With the Wind for the first time when I was in 8th grade and I loved it. Just like with The Catcher in the Rye though, different things stood out to me when reading it this time around. As a 13 year old girl, of course I focused on the romance between Scarlett and Rhett, and I was furious at Scarlett's ridiculous deceptions against all her lovers. When she lies to Frank Kennedy about Suellen's engagement just to win him over for money I literally slammed the book shut and couldn't pick it up again for days, I was so angry at her.


This time, even though my heart still breaks at the love story, I paid a lot more attention to the history of the Southern experience with the Civil War. The perspective that Margaret Mitchell provides is definitely one of a kind. She does drag it out a lot. By today's standards I think the book could've been several hundred pages shorter just through some editing and none of the war or love plot would be missing.


So which is more important, the history or the romance? According to Margaret Mitchell, I would say the history. Here's what she said when asked what Gone With the Wind is about:


"...if the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, strong and brave go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those that go under? I only know that survivors used to call that quality 'gumption.' So I wrote about people who had gumption and people who didn't." (1936)


Scarlett certainly has gumption, almost to a fault. Hondo asked me why I love Scarlett. The truth is, I love her and I also kind of hate her. She drives me insane when it comes to her treatment of her children and the men who love her. But I still admire her strength. Her ability to do whatever it takes to survive in a world where women are expected to defer to the men is powerful. I feel like I understand her too. I understand her motives and even though I feel bad for the people who fall victim to her charms, I can't help but think "you go, girl" too.

Where Dreams Come True

Do I have the greatest husband ever? Yes. At least, he's the greatest husband ever for me. Last week was our One Year Anniversary, and I had already taken off Monday and Tuesday so we could spend some time together. BUT tricksy little Hondo had already schemed and made plans for us to go to Orlando! And not just Orlando, but...Disney World!!!

Jealous?!?



So I wrapped my head around the fact that I would be away from Monroe for 2 nights (I cried. It's fine.) and on Tuesday afternoon we took off for Florida.

Flying sucks.

I've never been to Florida so for anyone who has you can imagine how crazy it was to walk into the humidity! Holy hotness! I'm not even going to get started on what happened to my hair. (Actually...if you've ever watched the episode of Friends where they all go to Barbados--think Monica's hair.) We picked up our fabulous rental car (a brand new Ford Mustang, literally with only 3,000 miles on it) and went to our hotel.

The time difference threw us off a little. We kept saying we were so excited to sleep in since Mo wakes up every day around 6:30-7am. Well, I guess I'm used to those hours too because even though according to Florida time I "slept in" until 9:30, that's still only 7:30 our time. Sigh. I can't wait until she's a teenager and sleeps in until noon.

We got up, got ready and headed out to Disney. After a conversation we had with the hotel concierge, we decided that we would spend the day at Epcot. Hondo had never been there, I've never been to any of the parks, but since we didn't have any kids with us and I become violently ill when I go on rides, Epcot was a good choice. We were there for about 8 hours, and I think we got to do almost all the rides except the newest one Soarin' (by the time we made it over to the line, they were handing out tickets for the next day only!) and the Test Track (90 minute wait and possiblity of throwing up? no, thank you.)

On the boat to China



Me just inside the entrance



Hondo in "China"

The day overall was a fantastic success. We were exhausted by the time we got back to our hotel room.

On our second day we got up early again and drove out to Cocoa Beach. We had heard that it is not as nice as the beaches on the West side of Florida, but since it was the closest, we went there.

We have talked about going to the beach for a vacation since before we were married, so this was a long time coming. One of my best friends from high school, Caitlin, lives in Cocoa Beach so she and her son Kevin met up with us to play for awhile. We went to lunch and then down to the water. Hondo and I got in a couple of times. I love the ocean. Even though I'm in the same water as the whales and sharks and whatever other crazy creatures live there, I love it. The thought of the ocean scares me, but once I'm there I can't resist. It's so fun!

I wish we could've spent the whole day there but we had to head back to Orlando to fly back home.

Flying sucks.

We made it home and got to see our little doll who was so happy to see us! It was a short trip, but I'm so glad we went.

Yep, my love is awesome. He's already talking about what we're going to do for our anniversary next year. I'm so grateful for this past year and all the time we've been able to spend together and as a family. Thank you to everyone (Becca, Holly & Eric, Jen) who knew about this trip ahead of time and helped plan and make it possible.

Hondo always says to me, "You aren't perfect, but you're perfect for me." I couldn't have put it better myself. I love you Hondo!

"All morons hate it when you call them a moron." Holden Caulfield

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The first book on my list.

(Sidebar: It may be a little early in a post for a sidebar. But I feel like explaining. Hondo and I have decided to read Time Magazine's 100 best books of all Time, which are really only books written in English published since Time's first publication in 1923.)

I read this book in high school. It was during my junior year in Mrs. Hayward's advanced English class. We had a group project that we had to do, and each group was assigned a different book. I was in a group with a few of my good friends. I don't remember what the project was, but I do remember that I was the only one who finished the book. (Sorry my junior classmates who did this project with me. I'm not trying to throw you under the bus.) I also remember that I really did not like the book. But the details of reading it are fuzzy, so it must have just not really made any sort of impression on me either way.

Flash forward to today. (Actually Thursday, since that is the day I finished the book.)
-----WOW. I did not appreciate the brilliance of this book when I was in high school. Which is a bit ironic I think since it is supposedly a young adult novel. I think I understand much more now how it is a young adult novel than I did when I was a young adult.

The Catcher in the Rye is to this day on the banned book list, for various reasons. (Sidebar: I hate banned book lists.) If anyone took the time to actually read the book instead of being all nit-picky about a few swear words or whatever their problem is they might see how moral the story actually is.

Holden, the main character, is on some sort of undefined bender and he is freaking out about everything. He hates people, he misses them, he loves them for a moment and hates them the next. Robert Burns' poem that the title comes from, Comin' Thro the Rye, is misquoted by Holden but leads to his idea of becoming a catcher in the rye:

I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.

Holden wants to keep these kids from going over the edge--into adulthood. He wants to save their innocence. I don't think that is immoral at all. It's a bit naive, but so is Holden.

What really struck me with this reading was how much Holden is grieving. I didn't even remember that he had a brother, Allie, who had died of luekemia. (Shows how well I read it in high school, eh?) Holden goes on this trip and goes crazy with grief. He makes a short mention of the fact that he was hospitalized right after his brother died because he broke all the windows in their garage with his fist and that he missed the funeral, which I read as him never really getting the chance to grieve for his dead brother. I felt like as I read it this time, and I saw how much Holden mentions Allie and even talks to him, I got it. I understood the story. He misses him. And it's because of this grief that he wants to keep his sister Phoebe, and all kids, innocent.

I enjoyed reading The Catcher in the Rye this time around. I feel like I had so much more understanding than I did before. I think it's the type of book that I could read again in 10 years and feel like I got it in a different way than I do now. Which is a great thing.

PS. I loved the writing. The book begs to be read aloud, simply because Holden is writing as though he is talking to you. It weaves through his thoughts quickly and randomly and realistically. Well done, J.D. Salinger.

Yep, that's it. That's the news.

I started a blog. Aren't you so proud?! I am. Of myself.

No one has to read it. Unless you want to. Then feel free. I'm not going to stop you. But just a warning: if you don't like me, you probably won't like what I write. But if you don't like me I don't know why you're reading my blog anyway. Maybe so you can wallow in your hatred? Which is fine with me I guess. Just don't post mean things please.

Also--I'm probably going to post a lot about books I read. Just because I wanted somewhere to put my thoughts about those things.

And I'll probably post a lot about my kid. Because she is the cutest kid ever made. Who knew Hondo and I would be so good at making a kid? (not in a dirty way. Although I know some people who probably thought I meant in a dirty way and then their faces turned all red with embarrassment.)

Mo at 3 months

Case in point.

I'll write about our family too, and the things we are doing. Which a lot of times aren't that exciting to anyone else, but sometimes they are extremely exciting to everyone. In which case I'll let you know ahead of time so you aren't shocked or appalled by the exciting things happening to us.