Turning Back Time

When I was growing up, Christmas time always brought plenty of boxes of mixed nuts and Fanny May candy. Members of our congregation wanted to give the pastor a little something, and we children were ready to eat all the goodies we got. Whenever we opened a box of fancy mixed nuts, we fought over one kind of nut — cashews. We all adored those sweet and salty little crescent nuts. Mom didn’t mind us devouring cashews. She couldn’t stand them. Mom ate all the other nuts, but she wouldn’t even touch a cashew. She told us this story:

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Grandpa was a jack of all trades. With no more than an eighth grade education, he took on a variety of jobs to feed his family, whether it was working in an airplane factory during WWII or selling WearEver pots and pans. When my mother was a little girl, Grandpa saw an advertisement on a way to bring a little more income into the household. He decided to sell cashews out of vending machines that were similar to gumball machines. A large barrel of cashews arrived at my grandparents house, but unfortunately the vending machines never arrived. Without the vending machines, Grandpa’s plan couldn’t be put into action.

But what to do with the cashews?

Food was never wasted in my grandparents house, so their family ate cashews in everything. Cashews for snacks, cashews in casseroles, cashews in salads, cashews in dessert. When the cashews grew stale, Grandma toasted them in the oven. Mom became so sick and tired of those cashews that she literally never ate another cashew again.

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As many of you know, Mom passed away at the young age of 67. I want to keep her memory alive for myself and also my children. I plan on writing stories about my parents, my grandparents, and also my own personal history. And so I’m beginning a new series on Tuesdays called Turning Back Time.

I invite you to join me, whether you would like to read along or write along. Next Tuesday, you will be able to link up your own Turning Back Time post. To help you along, I will provide a prompt each week.

The first prompt is:

“Tell me all about it. Are limes the fashion now? It used to be pricking bits of rubber to make balls.” Meg to Amy from Little Women, by Lousia May Alcott

Write a story about a childhood fad.

You may use this prompt in a variety of ways: Record a memory from your own childhood. Remember a story told by your parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles. You may also record a story from your own children’s past (or present) to help them remember their childhood when they are older.

If the person you want to write about is still alive, use this prompt as an interview question.

Most of all, have fun recording the memory and remember, your story is worth telling!

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Book Nook: Two Books, One Woman

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett

My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
I borrowed Truth & Beauty from my mom, who had gotten it from my cousin. My mom never read this book; she knew one of the main characters, Lucy Grealy, had a rare, childhood cancer. As my mom is going through cancer treatments right now, she did not want to read a book full of cancer. When you are going through cancer, you really don’t want to read about someone else’s struggle, since you are in the midst of your own fight to survive. Even though I’m a cancer survivor and also avoid books about cancer, I decided to take the plunge. I really enjoyed Ann Patchett’s other books, and looked forward to reading this one.

While Ann Patchett does write quite a bit about Lucy’s cancer and how it has affected Lucy’s life, this book is mainly about a friendship between two writers. Lucy lost much of her jaw bone to cancer, and so undergoes many surgeries to try to reconstruct her jaw. Ann befriends Lucy at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and so becomes part of her life. What happens from then on can only be described by Ann. They truly had a life-long and wonderful friendship.

The book does not end as you might think. Lucy’s demons haunt her, and even her friendship with Ann cannot save her. It is a true story, after all. Even with the sad ending, it is well worth reading.

Autobiography of a Face Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had just finished reading Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett when I delved into Autobiography of a Face. Lucy states at a book reading during her book tour that she is a writer. She didn’t come to compare cancer survivor stories, or to be told how brave she was to survive such a rare childhood cancer; she came to read her work as an author.

Ann Patchett advises us to read Lucy’s book for her talented writing. I thought I would be reading this book as a cancer survivor myself. I tried to do the first; and didn’t even accomplish the second. I read this book as a mother, and didn’t like reading about her struggles with cancer at all. This is not to say I don’t recommend this book; it’s just hard to read about a little girl facing so much trauma in her life.

I also think I read these books in the wrong order. Autobiography of a Face covers Lucy Grealy’s childhood, and Truth & Beauty tells more of her adult life. Maybe I would have enjoyed Autobiography more if I had read it first.

Lucy Grealy tells her story bluntly and to the point. She tells her story from her childhood point of view, and from her memories of cancer. Losing her jaw to cancer had such huge ramifications in her life that the rest of us can’t even begin to imagine how she really felt about her life. Ann Patchett tell us that Lucy saves us from the worst parts of her story; Lucy doesn’t even tell us hurtful stories she might have written about.

I really wanted to like this book, but in the end, I preferred Truth & Beauty. Even though it tells a sad story, it is so full of life and friendship that I preferred it to Autobiography. But Lucy Grealy had a difficult story to tell, and she did so with style.

What book should I read next? Do you have any recommendations? Please, no books about cancer or other depressing topics! How about something upbeat?