Books Read: March & April 2022

 For some reason it has been taken me longer to read books than normal this year. I have been slightly discouraged by this but am hopeful that it is just a phase and I will get back to reading between 4-7 books a month. For the time being, the following is what I read in March and April:

I have read this book before, but was less enthralled by it the second time around. It is a pretty big book - I want to say that it is over 600 pages and took me the whole month of March to get through. I have read better books about Teddy Roosevelt than this one, but I enjoy reading about the Roosevelt family enough that I would read this again. 

I couldn't NOT read this book after having read the original four books and reading part of the leaked rough draft of this book. I enjoyed reading the story from another person's perspective and would probably read this one again too, but not any time soon. I would recommend this book to anyone who read the original twilight series. 

So...I was really looking forward to reading this book because I absolutely loved reading her book called The Secret Life of Bees and the content of this book intrigued me - especially because I am not religious and like to read about different twists on the major religions. To me, this book was just okay. I am glad I read it, and I would probably recommend it to others who have read this author's books, but I am not sure I would recommend this book to everyone. 

This book made me sick to my stomach and kept me up at night. Literally. I had a hard time sleeping for two nights in a row while reading this book because it affected me so deeply. I would recommend this book to everyone to read, but especially those who think that our country can do no wrong because after reading this book - I can assure you we are no better than the countries that we think we are above. The atrocities that we have committed against other human beings, whom a lot of were most likely innocent, is a disgrace, and I hope that somewhere, somehow those who committed these atrocities have to account for their actions. How some of those in charge and those who they commanded can sleep at night knowing what they did to these prisoners is beyond me.  

January Books Read: 4

February Books Read: 3

March Books Read: 1

April Books Read: 3

Total Read: 11

22

 Yesterday, on May 5th, our oldest child, Andy, turned 22. It is hard for me to believe that I have a child who is 22, but at the same time because I became a mama so young (I was in the last days of being 20) that I cannot fathom a life without children anymore. It seems as if they have always been a part of me. 

Bob and I have always tried to make birthdays a big deal in our house. Bob has always taken the day off from work and the birthday child is allowed to have any food that he/she wishes + we spend the day doing whatever the birthday boy or girl would like to do. 

For his birthday yesterday, Andy requested Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, TGIF's boneless spicy wings for lunch, and the Olive Garden for dinner. 

After sleeping in quite late Andy got up and opened up his birthday cards and gifts. He wanted to play board games, so we played a couple of rounds of a game called Coup. 

He asked to spend some time at Barnes and Noble pursuing their books and games - which the 4 of us who spent the day with him gladly accommodated. (Josh was not with us until dinner as he had a final and a paper due yesterday). He selected his items (two more Dune books to add to his collection) and we left. 

We then went to his favorite brewery in town called Old Mecklenburg where he and Bobby had a beer while the girls and I had water and iced tea. The brewery is pretty cool - the vibe is relaxing and the decor is really nice. There is a lot of space to move around and they have optimized their outdoor area making it an enjoyable experience. 

Because the kids got up so late it was already time to head to dinner after the brewery. We picked up Josh and headed to the Olive Garden where we enjoyed being together just the six of us. 

After dinner we dropped Josh back off at school and headed home where we played a couple of more board games (House on a Hill and Scythe) and sang to the birthday boy, afterwards enjoying ice cream cake. 

Josh invited Andy to drive up to Belmont and hang out for the night, but Andy declined instead heading to bed after playing games with the four of us. 

It was a privilege to spend the day with Andy as I realize that there will most likely come a day where Andy would prefer to spend his birthdays in the company of others. 

He is the sweetest of boys and I am so lucky to claim him as my own. 

  

Greenway