Saturday, April 22, 2006

I'm getting old

I'm getting old. I'm only 32, but last night I found out what it meant to be getting old. My mom, Doogie, and I stopped at the gas station to fuel up (ow!) on the way to the library book sale. I ran inside to pay for the gas, and after the teenage girl swiped my debit card, she looked out the window and said, "Oh, I just love that boy, he's so sweet." I looked out the window to see who she was talking to and saw Doogie, my son, approaching the door. I turned back to her and said, "That's my son." She replied with a smile, "He's so cute, I just love him." Not knowing what else to say I said, "Thank you." Doogie came in as I signed the receipt, and we walked out together. Him oblivious to the years his mother had just aged in the last seconds, me tempted to give him a big kiss on the cheek in the parking lot right in front of the window. I resisted the impulse. After I told him what this pretty blonde girl had said about him, he said, "I don't even know her. She's a senior." Doogie's a freshman. I am officially old.

Boo by Rene Gutteridge is lots of fun to read. Gutteridge has lots of fun making plays on the characters' names and speculating about what life would be like in a horror author's hometown. Wolfe Boone's horror stories have built the town of Skary, Indiana. All of the local businesses make money from tourism based on his books. So what happens when Wolfe (known as Boo to the local townsfolk) has a spiritual conversion? Everyone's secrets will come out! Miss Peeples is a hoot! The Christianity seems more like a plot device than actual faith until the end of the book when Wolfe finally reveals who showed him the gospel. Ainsley obsession with Martha Stewart is fun, but sometimes seems to overwhelm her character. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and seeing how characters grow in faith and humor.

The Five Love Languages for Teenagers by Gary Chapman is a book every parent needs to own. I'll admit, I went looking for a quick fix with this book. The other Love Languages books have a quiz in the back to help you identify your language, and that's right where I went with this book: to the back. I was disappointed to find no quiz in this book, but Chapman explains that teenagers would be quick to figure out how to manipulate the system if they knew that we were trying to figure them out. The book discusses the five love languages as broken down in Chapman's other books in this series, but directs them specifically at how teenagers are affected by them. I learned so much from this book about how to talk to my kids and that both of my teens are quality time people. During the course of reading this book, I've seen a change in my daughter already. She's spent more time talking to me, because I've spent more time listening to her. This is a book I will purchase for my own bookshelf and continue the practices in it for the next 17 years (until my three-year-old turns 20).

Jesse has a sermon to write yet for tomorrow, and I've got a Sunday School lesson to prepare. Have a wonderful weekend!

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