Hi Ladies! (for some reason, Blogger wouldn't let me post a title...hmmmm)

I've tried not to read any posts/remarks, so sorry if this sounds repetitive. :)

First, I have to say that I'd read "Zippy" right before bed, so I'd often fall asleep with that memoir-like narrative voice in my head, which was pretty surreal, let me tell you. It also made me haul out my own journal and write a few entries (I think I last wrote in it a year ago!!! egads!), so if for nothing else, I really appreciate reading "Zippy" for that reason alone!

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I was INCREDIBLY moved by the story in the second chapter, I think, where she found a letter her mother had written in her baby book, concerning her illness when Zippy was 5 months old and the friends drove down from Gary, IN, so that her mother could sleep, and that they took her to the doctor and there were only 26 antibiotics (!!!!! Thinking about this now, after this past week when all three of my kids came down with strep throat and I just feel so blessed!) and the resident randomly picked the right one and Zippy survived the night after her mother turned the whole thing over to the Lord. And then I busted out laughing when she noted that after Zippy started talking, her mother wrote that all she had to say was "Please God, give that child some hair," or something like that. CRACKED me up.

I also laughed about her siblings telling her that she was adopted, because (true confession time) I remember telling my younger brother (with my older brother validating it, of course) that poor Herman was adopted because he didn't have to wear glasses and had light brown hair instead of dark brown. And the poor kid believed it, until he went to my mom who told us that, no, she was there, he definitely was NOT adopted. lol. (my mom had all of us via natural childbirth).

My biggest bugaboo was also part of the charm of the book...she recalled her childhood as we all do: in vignettes. I think I wanted more chronological order to her stories, whereas she kind of jumped around (which wasn't so bad until she started reintroducing secondary characters, like that neighbor boy who kidnapped her cat, and that got me a bit confused). However, isn't that how we all remember when telling people of our past? We have a story that leads to another and then another, and then when topics change, we go back in our past to find experiences that relate to the new topic.

I think it's interesting how she touched upon her mother's depression and her father, also like we remember our childhood memories. My own mother suffered from severe and debilitating postpartum depression (back in the day when it wasn't labeled as such) during the same generation and I know that the things that were just normal for me and my siblings were kinda weird for other people and definitely not acceptable for an Air Force Officer's wife. Of course, I know this now. Back in the day, that's just how it was.

I really enjoyed Zippy. As I'm raising my own kids, I wonder what they'll remember of their childhood. Hopefully they'll look back on it with such a kind and compassionate eye. Thanks for suggesting it!!!