The Story Garden with Mrs. Sandoz

Maybe she can?   Maybe she can’t?   That is the question that May B. has to answer for herself while stranded on the Kansas prairie alone and abandoned until Christmas.   Can she grow past her fears and insecurities and find it in herself to overcome? May B. A Novel by Caroline Starr Rose is a true healing story.   Its raw, awkward, and uncomfortable rhythm mimics the main character. Yet the more I read it to my boys the more freely the words ebbed and flowed from me.     Just like the Kansas prairie in the 1870’s this story is sparse and simple requiring commitment to get past the first half of the book before the reward of hard work and a good story pulls you in.   The beauty of this book is the way Rose develops May B. throughout the story mirroring her internal struggle to read with her external struggle to survive.   Sometimes a bad situation often does make a person better.   This story offered me and my boys plenty of oppo...

Sometimes I get it right.  Not often but sometimes.  It feels so good!  Lately Thing Two has been feeling bad about himself.  He tries to punish himself for being "bad" and gets into these funks where he can't seem to find anything good about himself.  This is so heartbreaking.  Especially as he is my birthday boy (born on my birthday) and can be as sweet as pie!  (I actually called him Baby Pie as an infant).  Like many of us he has believed a lie and follows its trail. So what did I do right?  Instead of lecturing Thing Two on how good I thought he was I played a game with him.  I made it up on the fly.  It's called "I'm Good".  It worked too!  I have to brag because probably 90% of the time I'm beating myself up for getting it wrong.  It just seems so rare to actually feel like I'm doing something good for my boys.  Hmm...guess I need this game too! Here it is. I'm Good Game To Play: Each player ta...