The Book of Myself

Okay! So I can't sleep (not an uncommon phenomena for me) even after taking sleep meds. And since I was up, I decided to look for that book I mentioned in my very first blog. And lo and behold it was right there in my face the whole time. Well, to tell the truth, it was behind my face. And by that I mean it was stuffed in between "Valley of the Dolls" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" on the headboard of our bed. Go figure!

This is actually a pretty cool book. I thought the concept was great when I bought it. Before I tell you about it, though, I need to give credit where credit is due and cross my fingers and toes that I'm not infringing on any copyright laws!

"The Book of Myself: A Do-It-Yourself Autobiography in 201 Questions" by Carl & David Marshall (1st Edition). The introduction was written by Carl E. Marshall, who happens to be the grandfather of the other author, David Marshall. Carl passed away before the book went into publication, so the second part of the introduction is followed up by David.

I loved the concept of the book for one very big reason. My step-mom passed away a few years ago, her name is Lynne Wright. She and my Dad were together for a long time and we were pretty close. There were things I could tell her that I just knew no one else in the world would understand. But while she was easy to talk to, she didn't share in equal doses.

When I first flipped through the book, I remember thinking, "Wow, you know there are so many things about Lynn I wish I could ask about". For example, she was a pretty popular jazz singer in her day. I knew about it, I've even sang a few songs with her. She taught me even more songs and we had some pretty good harmonies going on between us. But I don't know much about her LIFE back then.

Another example is her children. The living children she talked about constantly, especially Ginger. She loved Ginger fiercely. But what brought us close together was the fact that she knew exactly how I was feeling and what I was going through when Nick died. I know she had 2 or 3 other children die in their early years, but I never asked a lot of questions about the why and the how of it all. We talked mostly about feelings, not about details. And now that she's gone, I wish I had asked about the details.

So! This amazing book will maybe help me make peace with it all by leaving my own stories behind for my children (or anyone else who happens to be bored enough to be reading some random stranger's blog! :) ) I'm certainly not going to commit to writing something about all 201 questions in the book. I think I'll fall out of my chair in shock if I even make it to 201 blogs (is that the right term??). But I'll start at page one and move on from there. Like I said before, let's see where this ends up!

Good night kind strangers! I'm off to see if I can't coax some sleep out of these meds before the sun comes up!