Book Blog: Summer at Tiffany - Marjorie Hart

This was another war-time story (a memoir actually) but it was quite different than the last one I read. After reading such a tragic story, this one seemed almost silly. This was the memoir of a woman who spent a summer in New York City with her best friend during college. Their plan was to get a job at one of the fancy department stores and get a discount, but they ended up somehow getting a job at Tiffany and barely getting paid enough to get by. I have never been to NYC, but if I get there I will for sure want to stop at Tiffany. It's still in the same building as it was back in 1945 and it sounds like a magical place.

It's funny to read how innocent college girls from Iowa were back in the 40's! Despite wars being fought in Europe and the Pacific, these girls had quite the summer full of sightseeing, dating, and seeing celebrities. Since this is a memoir and based only on one summer, there is not much of a plot. However, it is a nice quick read as long as you appreciate the girly things in life. If you are familiar with the movie stars, musicians, and fashion of the 40's it would be much more entertaining.

Random note: I had no idea a plane had crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945 due to foggy weather.

Book Blog: Those Who Save Us - Jenna Blum

I am glad I picked this book up at the used book store. I actually heard the author speaking on the radio the other day and was excited because I was in the middle of her book. She had enormous success with this book, especially in book clubs, and I see why. This is the story of a mother and daughter that lived in Germany during WWII. It switches back and forth between the mother Anna's life at the start of the war, during, and shortly after the war, and the present (1997) life of the daughter Trudy. Trudy as an adult is a history professor and begins a research project to learn about the lives of Germans during the war. She knows that she and her mother were there at the time, but has very little memory of their experiences. Unfortunately her mother cannot let go of the memories, nor will she speak of them. While much of this book is heartbreaking, I enjoyed following Trudy's discovery of German life at wartime and the discovery of her mother's secrets.

Another reason I liked this book is because the latter sections are set in Minnesota and places described in the book are familiar to me. Not many books or movies are set in Minneapolis, so it was fun to read it and be able to picture the locations and the weather conditions.

I have not really studied much about WWII since high school, with the exception of my history class in France, but that was brief and mostly French focused. With the Holocaust being the most talked about topic from the war, I had not spent much time thinking about what life was like for non-Nazi Germans at the time. Many people blame them for standing by and not doing anything to stop the atrocities, but this book gives insight into the lives of women particularly who simply were just trying to survive and protect their children. There were those who helped hide Jews, provide food to the camps, etc. but those people and others were put in impossible situations where they sometimes had to choose staying alive vs starving to death or being shot point blank in the face. It's easy to say that you would choose the "right" thing, but would you really be able to when put in that situation?

After reading this book I did gain a new perspective on the time and the effects it had on the German population, as well as the Jewish population. Reading the account of Anna's view of the concentration/work camps from the outside is terrifying without even thinking about what was happening on the inside. Today, I visited the El Paso Holocaust Museum to continue my exploration of the subject. The museum is very well constructed and informative, I recommend it if you're in the area. I am thankful that I did not live in that time period, and I pray that nothing as horrible as the death of 11,000,000 innocent people ever happens again.

New Additions

Now that I'm all unpacked, I've been cleaning and organizing. I've also added some new things to the house:

1. Plants to the front of the house so it looks like someone actually lives here. And a new doormat. The hibiscus remind me of Hawaii, and while it's not tropical here at all, they seem to be doing well so far.

 2. A big comfy chair for reading in. I've always wanted a chair like this, and I'm very happy that I went to the furniture store on the 4th of July because I got a really good deal on it. I also got a side table that matches our coffee table.

3. Since it's so hot outside most days, I bought a treadmill from a friend here so I can do something other than be a blob on the couch. I'm excited to be able to watch tv and walk, and not have to watch ESPN, CNN and MSNBC like at the gym.

I did discover though that I live just a few blocks from one of the nicer parks in the city. There is a paved path all the way around it and there are actually trees and grass. I think I really lucked out with the neighborhood we are in. It's close to major roads, a grocery store, the park, and it seems to be really quiet and safe. I don't think I'll be as excited about the school across the street once the school buses are coming everyday, but I do appreciate that they have big bright floodlights on all night that keep the street lit and not creepy.

We have gotten quite a bit of rain this week which is odd for El Paso. It rained steadily for several hours last night. My dining room window was leaking, and I'm glad I noticed because it was dripping on my beautiful wood table. Luckily it didn't make it through the table cloth. I'm not sure if any parts of the city actually flooded, but there are still some large puddles around today. This one is still hanging around in my backyard:

I'm doing really well here so far. Time is going by quickly and I'm so happy to have some good friends here already. I feel very blessed and I can't wait to share this life here with my husband. He just needs to get home safely, keep praying! His work days are winding down and he is looking forward to getting out of there. Until then, I'm happily holding down the fort.

I live in the desert

I actually live in TX now. Weird. So far things are going really well. The house is great and thankfully stays nice and cool during these triple digit days and not much cooler nights. I'm all unpacked and am now just waiting for some additional furniture and my husband to be delivered. I feel pretty comfortable here and have spent some of my time with friends so I have not been lonely. Packing, organizing and cleaning have been keeping me busy. It's nice to have a lot of space, and hopefully Will is ok with most of the decorating being done by me. He said as long as it's not all pink and flowery he is ok with it, so I think I'll be fine.

From GREEN Minnesota...

 

My dad drove down here with me in a truck. I only drove a total of a half hour due to my awful cough and lack of truck driving skills. Somehow we managed to avoid rush hour in every state until we actually got to El Paso. And it was raining here when we drove in which is a rare occurrence. My landlord and some of my friends helped unpack the truck and the POD and it went pretty quickly. My mom flew down the day after we got here, so she helped unpack and wash everything in the kitchen, among other things. It was nice to have my parents here to help and be with so it was not totally overwhelming moving into a 3 bedroom house on my own. I took them to some of the few exciting things to do in this city including a mountain hike, some good Mexican food, and to Cattleman's Steakhouse.

To this.

While this year definitely did not go fast, it does seem strange that we're in the last few weeks and that it will soon be over. The countdown is down to just a few weeks and I am so excited! Homecoming is going to be a great day.

Return to the Blogosphere

I have been informed that I should continue to blog because people miss reading my posts. I was glad to hear this because I was not sure if anyone actually read it besides the moms in my life.

The past few months have been a whirlwind, and thankfully have gone really quickly. I had a long and stressful transition from my job and have since been keeping busy spending time with family and friends, fitting in doctors/dentist appointments, packing, and preparing to move. And some much needed relaxation.

I move to TX in 5 days! I have been waiting for this for the last year and a half and it's finally almost here. I will be there for a few weeks on my own until my hubby comes home. It will be strange living alone for a while after having lived with two friends a baby. I am thankful to have some good friends down there already, so I won't be lonely. I'm so looking forward to moving into our house and making it ours. It's about time we get to actually live together and start our journey as a married couple. Please continue to pray for Will and for a safe return. While I am so excited about the move and the homecoming, it is still weeks away and I can't help but worry. But all I can do is hope and pray for the best and try to be positive. Hopefully the vitamin D from the non-stop sunshine in El Paso will help with that!

My March Madness

I could care less about basketball, but I've had a pretty mad March - both in the crazy and the angry sense. Lots of ups and downs and lots of emotions going on. This has been a tough month. It's felt like it's gone on forever and there is still one more day. However, not all was bad so I should focus on those good things that happened this month. Here are some tidbits:

• Positive: Army Wives is back! It feels like so long between seasons and I'm happy to have new episodes on. However, the shows brings out a lot of emotions during this deployment.
• Negative: I'm afraid potholes are going to eat my car alive. MN can't decide if it wants to be winter or spring and the roads are not liking it. Seems that road crews are doing pretty well staying on top of patching this year though.
• Positive:  My husband got better internet access finally so I get to talk to him online most days now. Hopefully we'll get to use Skype one of these days since I have not seen his face or heard his voice since January. He also got his promotable status which means he can be promoted to Sergeant soon.
• Negative/Positive: I have been struggling with work more and more. Having so  much responsibility in a fast-paced growing company is stressful for me on top of everything else going on in my life. I have had a lot of moody and angry days and I hate feeling that way. I have been having anxiety issues often and knowing that I am leaving and needed to find a good replacement and train them was a lot of pressure on top of a lot of regular stress. Luckily, we hired someone last week and she is great. Definitely an answered prayer. I'll be done with work after next week, then on a cruise, and then hopefully enjoying some less anxious time at home before moving away.
• Positive: Baby Lucy was born on March 11! I can't believe my best friend/"wife" is a mom now. I was blessed to be there for Lucy's birth. Although I am terrified of the birthing process, it was a much more positive experience than I expected. Megan was tough and once the drugs kicked in it was all smiles and laughs and excitement. The baby came over two weeks early but was healthy and beautiful. Now we have a sweet little bundle of joy in our apartment. I have not heard a peep out of her during the nights so so far so good. She has a very sweet disposition and even lets mommy and daddy get some sleep at night.

(Photos by Devotion Photography)

Book Blog: The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford

I just finished this book this morning, and it was a great read. I had a little trouble getting into to it at first as it was another that switches between time periods, but I loved it in the end. It was heart breaking and heart warming at the same time. Henry, the main character, is a young Chinese boy living in San Francisco and is attending an all white school. He soon is joined by a Japanese American girl and they become good friends while working in the school kitchen together. Not long after, tensions rose between the US and Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Japanese families were sent away to internment camps, much to the satisfaction of Henry's father.

This is the part of World War II that I, and a lot of others I'm sure, tend to forget about. The fact that over 100,000 Japanese American people (and also German and Italian) were removed from their homes and sent to live inland in large camps fit for prisoners is just unimaginable to me. While many of the people were second generation Americans (like Keiko in the book), they were still feared to be spies or in cooperation with the Japanese. It is interesting to me that studies on racism and discrimination are typically centered on African Americans in the South, but as seen through this story, there are many other groups that have historically been discriminated against within the US, and other instances of clashing cultures, and today I am proud to live in a country where a person of any race, color, or religion can be respected as an American. I know we still have a long way to go, but I pray nothing like this would ever happen again in this country. It almost seems silly that anything like this could happen now, but at the same time that I say that, discriminatory events of a similar nature are still happening around the world.

The Japanese internment separates Henry from his best friend Keiko for much longer than they had thought. Henry has to learn to deal with the distance, only occasional letters, and learn to live as the one left behind where everyone else's lives seem to go on as usual...sounds like a familiar life to mine right now. Reading this, I related to the heartache, the uncertainty, the fear that Henry was going through, but it also made me thankful for the superior circumstances of my own separation. The one I love was not taken from me practically unannounced and for no apparent reason, he is not being treated like a prisoner, I hear from him at least every few days, and I know when he will return. These are the simple positive things that I need to remind myself when I'm struggling with the deployment. It's a daily struggle, but there are still things to be thankful for, things to learn, and I know that my husband is serving our country and protecting the freedoms we are lucky to have.