the middle place by Kelly Corrigan and other stuff

We read this tome (I was using the word book too much in this sentence) for Book Chicks Book Club. It's about a women dealing with being a wife, motherhood and being a daughter. Then she discovers she has breast cancer, and her dad finds out his prostate cancer has come back as bladder cancer.

I read the book over a weekend. I liked the author's writing style and the book drew me in. A couple sections drew me in - this part, two sentences that capture my feelings exactly on faith.

Page 203 -
"I envy my dad his faith. I envy all people who have someone to beseech, who know where they're going, who sleep under the fluffy white comforter of belief."

I also liked how the author wasn't afraid to be hard on herself - her weaknesses. She called herself out on a couple of them. Still she totally idolizes her father - to a point that I found to be a bit over the top for an adult woman. But hey, maybe my dad was just kinda fabulous, unlike Big Greenie.

I'm looking forward to discussion of this book with my bookie friends!

• Sunday I finally got some girl time with my BFF Deb. Since the hardware store that doubles at a pseudo starbucks in Creston is closed for tornado repairs, we went to McD for Latte- and hardly came up for a breath. And we didn't even get to politics, baby! But we covered a lot of territory - our vacation, both works, Keith's bride-to-be's bridal shower, Jud's up-coming move, Kara's new apartment, Brett and Shawna's visit, Paul's job experience, Amy's big win at Once Upon a Race in Denver, plus Kitty's unfortunate demise - and of course tornado stories. When I dropped her off at her house nearly 2 hours later - we both did a big sigh of satisfaction. It was good!
• I got to have breakfast with most of my homies this a.m. Nan is in Arizona (with Jim) being unemployed. She works at the hospital which you may recall is a shambles - take heart Nancy, the Servicemaster crews are there in force! Diana was not there either - not sure if she and Donnie are still at the lake (or if she even went). It was reported that Lucy was quilting this weekend. Susan had photos from daughter Lindsay's bachelorette party here in DSM. Looked like a good time was had by all. Patti told us about all the volunteers from around the state who showed up to help clean up at her brother-in-law's place (wiped out by tornado). Boy Scouts from Onawa - where the Scout Camp was hit, and a church group, complete with chain saws. It gave me chills to hear about people coming all that way to help. Bobbie reported that her Mom Grace is back in the hospital - she suffered a heart attack recently, and was having chest pains again. Scary!
• I got my hair cut today - phew! Sarah cut those wings off the sides - lets hope I can get it under control now. After work I put on my walking shoes and took a walk around the Capitol, around through the East Village. It's just not the same without my Pablo and my little black wiener dog waiting for me on East Court Street. sniff sniff...
• I moved my shi*, um stuff back into Joan's. I never really asked her if she was ready for all that. Regardless - here I am. I need to settle back into Waukee - get back into my routine. I feel so fortunate to have a pal like Joanie willing to take in a vagabond like me.