Writer’s Almanac
Here’s a poem for you from today’s Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor.
Things You Didn’t Put On Your Resumé
by Joyce Sutphen
How often you got up in the middle of the night
when one of your children had a bad dream,
and sometimes you woke because you thought
you heard a cry but they were all sleeping,
so you stood in the moonlight just listening
to their breathing, and you didn’t mention
that you were an expert at putting toothpaste
on tiny toothbrushes and bending down to wiggle
the toothbrush ten times on each tooth while
you sang the words to songs from Annie, and
who would suspect that you know the fingerings
to the songs in the first four books of the Suzuki
Violin Method and that you can do the voices
of Pooh and Piglet especially well, though
your absolute favorite thing to read out loud is
Bedtime for Frances and that you picked
up your way of reading it from Glynnis Johns,
and it is, now that you think of it, rather impressive
that you read all of Narnia and all of the Ring Trilogy
(and others too many to mention here) to them
before they went to bed and on way out to
Yellowstone, which is another thing you don’t put
on the resumé: how you took them to the ocean
and the mountains and brought them safely home.
Comments (11)
Very nice! Nor did you mention on your resume that you can get from the floor in the baby’s room to the bathroom where the toddler just flushed an entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet in .0009 seconds & save the floor from an overflow! Or that, while in a restaurant, you instinctively can catch the child beside you before she & her chair fall over backwards without missing a bite!! Now THERE are some accomplishments!!
Nice. Those are some real talents!
I love it. I know I’m not a mom, but living with a baby sister makes you appreciate things you otherwise wouldn’t.
–K.
Thanks for the prayers, I’m going to need them!!
I’m answering your questions from the last post here (about P&P): (Part of the answer to the 1st one I just copied from the other location. Sorry it took so long!)
1. Why do you think Austen starts the novel with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their marriage? Is their marriage a happy one? Why do you think it is or is not? Use comments from the novel, when possible, to make your point.
I think that the description of the marriage relationship of Mr. & Mrs. Bennet in the first chapter sets the stage for the whole book, really. The teasing & sarcasm that Mr. Bennet expresses toward his wife and the preoccupation of Mrs. Bennet with getting rich husbands for her daughters is, I think, paramount to the story. It sets you in a playful mood for the rest of the book. I think in those days they did not think as much about having “happy” marriages as much as having “productive” or “prosperous” marriages, but I do think they were happier with one another than they appear. I think the teasing is all just a game for Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet’s “nerves” may just be a tactic to get attention.
2. Many people think that Pride and Prejudice is a romance novel. However, in romance novels, the hero is normally portrayed right from the start as a good guy. How does this differ from a “regular” romance novel? How is Pride and Prejudice similar to a “chick-lit” novel? How would you class this novel?
I don’t know what “chick-lit” is (I’ll assume it’s like a chick-flick.) but I would not call it that. My husband likes the movie, so I don’t think it’s just a “chick” thing. Hmmm…… I would class it…….. classical. I know it is romantic in a sense, but it also shows the frustration of learning to understand people of a different social status & upbringing than yourself. I find it more modern in that way than I had imagined it would be.
3. What sort of person is Mrs. Bennet? Is she really as awful as she is usually portrayed to be? What are her good points?
I can’t say I find many good points, yet, but I do think that she’s a strong personality that finds a way to get her way! BUT, I do keep thinking, “How could she be all that bad when Jane and Elizabeth turned out so wonderful??” So, I think there must be something good about her as a mother.
Hope I’m not just rambling here….. I’ve never done this before and you may be shaking your head going, “Oy vay!”
AAAHH! Rings! Rings! More than one of them! Three for the Elves, seven for the Dwarves, Nine for the Nazgul (well, mortal men, if you go by the poem), and one for teh_evul (er, Sauron…Dark Lord…yeah).
Sorry, very tangential. Hello from Oregon, by the way! *waves*
Ahhh, all the things I have to look forward to! Wht joy!
I love the poem. I finally got myself the book, now I just have to find time to read it.
Yes, the 9th is my birthday! Oh, and this is my face…. the picture was taken a few years back, but it hasn’t changed that much…… except when I take off the makeup, and then…….. “Yeeeeeesh!” lol!!!
Home births are really great, and you don’t wash your own sheets! (you’re so funny!!) The midwives take care of that stuff and they use those “blue pads”. Charmaine was what I would call my best birth, even though it was without the epidural. It was so much more calm and peaceful at home. Danielle was induced in the hospital (blahh!!). Edan was birth center/transfered to hospital (ah, well!). And Felicity was started off at home, ended with emergency C (waaaaaah!). But they are all healthy and wonderful children!! I would do it all over again to have these beauties!
I only have one final, so it should go ok
Although I do need to revise my story by next week, and I’d prefer to throw the whole thing out the window because I’m so sick of it by now. Too bad that’s not an option…after all, I wouldn’t want to chuck it out the window and have someone die from being hit on the head by so much melodrama. Anyway…yeah…the random one is sick, but is getting better, and is coping all right with college, although she’s not coping with everyone in her writing class thinking “all right” is one word…aaaaaahhhh cannot cope with the ungrammaticalness….aaaahhhhh *hides*
My Juvenile Literature teacher is in love with Writers Almanac and she read this to us Wednesday. How funny.