Someone gave us this book in a pile of used books. The first time one of my kids brought it to me to read to them (three years ago?) I started crying halfway through. My kids couldn't figure why I was so upset about a mother rocking her growing child. Well, I still can't read it without crying. I try every six months or so and if my kids choose it too close to the last time I read it, I ask them to choose something else. Yesterday, #s 4 & 5 got to wonder why I had tears in my eyes. I didn't even finish reading it to them. I just showed them the pictures on the last three pages and put the book away. Even though my children frequently test my patience, I know I'll miss the child-rearing phase of my life. This book always reminds me how much I love them.
6 comments:
I think if you will read it every day you can get over the emotional impact of it. You may even be able to get a cool, cynical outlook on life if you try hard enough. Just keep trying.
I like that book too. I tear up when I read it. Strangely enough, it also totally creeps me out. But then I get to the last pages and there's the tears again.
Yeah, the parts where she is rocking her teenage son and sneaking into her adult son's window to rock him are a little weird. #4 thinks it's crazy that a little old lady could/would do that. But the sentiment that she wants to hold her child is something very sweet.
I first read it years ago (pre-kids) so it didn't have that much of an effect on me. I was thinking today though that I could kind of understand why people have so many kids--having a baby around reminds you of the babyhood of your older kids, when so often it feels like those moments are gone foreve. (Which I guess they are, but reminders make them seem more permanent.)
Oh man, I remember that book. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I can understand why you react the way you do when you read it, and I think it's great that it makes you pause to think about your own children and how we only get so much time with them. I agree that most of us really will miss it when it's over.
My memory of the book centers on when Jim was in the hospital. The ICU shared the same area as the CCU. You can imagine there were quite a few elderly people in the CCU. One woman with a number of grown sons happened to be there at the same time as Jim. Her sons were tough. One of them was a rodeo cowboy. Big guys. But they loved their mother and they were there every day looking after her. When she finally passed away they couldn't hide their emotion and these cowboys broke down. My sweet mom-in-law remembered this book and gave it to them as a gift. She wanted them to always remember how much their mom loved them. I wonder if they still have it.
i love that book too!
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