Blessings

It only took 3 hours to read Blessings by Anna Quindlen and I liked it. It was a sweet story about the power you have to change your own life. It was also about parenting and family relationships.

Skip, just out of jail, with a new job as a cartaker of a rambling estate, finds a baby left on his doorstep. When his employer finds out he's been keeping the baby in his quarters, they have a sweet conversation:

"Do you ever give any thought to the woman who must have left her here?" She said.

"All the time. I try not to, but I wonder about her all the time."

"She is the mother, after all."

"No, see, that's where I think you're wrong. Because I keep thinking that that's not how you get to be the mother. You get to be the mother like this. You get to be the mother by changing her and giving her a bath and walking her in the middle of the night and loving her and making her feel like everything's all right. That's how you get to be the mother. That's what being the mother is. That means I'm the mother, more or less."

It really had a nice message and if you're thinking about reading it, don't read the next part in blue, it will give the end away!

In the very sad end, the birth mother gets her baby back. She comes around a few weeks later to talk to Skip. As she's leaving, Skip ponders about the mother and himself:

A year ago he would have taken the turned-down set of this girl's mouth, her ragged nails and narrowed eyes, as an omen, a prediction of the future, sure as Boatwrights begat more Boatrights. But look at Jennifer Foster, or Meredith Fox. Look at Skip Cuddy, who'd managed to do for four months with a baby he'd found in a box what his father, as far as he knew, hadn't managed in his whole life. Most people turned out the way you would expect. But not all. Not by a long shot.

"Just look at her, you know?" he said, leaning in the car window. "Look at her like she's not yours, like you've never seen her before. She does all these amazing things. And they change all the time. I mean, watching her just move her arms and legs is one of the coolest things you can do."

She shrugged, "So if you cared about her so much, why did you give her up?"

"I didn't give her up. You gave her up. I gave her back."

OK, so I really enjoyed the book but I won't recommend it because it did have about 10 strong swear words and some PG-13 morality issues. So far, I've read 4 books recommended by the Book Club made up of women in my ward (church congregation) . It's not your typical Church Book Club because the books aren't all faith promoting or doctrinal. I've liked the choices, but of the 4 I've read, half have had swearing/morality issues. Of course, I could have put those books down, but I didn't have the will power to live my faith completely. And once I'm into a book, it's hard to stop reading! I guess that's how all temptations get the best of us!