Loss and Life in Books and Beyond

This day has come around again. Thanks to Elaine Magliaro for introducing me to Sherman Alexie's Grief Calls Us to the Things Of This World, for that is the poem that comes to mind today on this breezy sunny day in Seattle.

For the past three days, I have been reading aloud E. B. White's Charlotte's Web to Lucia. Thanks to both my husband and Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for alerting me to this NPR piece about the book. I thought of E. B. White having to do seventeen takes when reading the sad parts for the audio recording after Lucia said, "Stop talking in that funny voice!" as I cried during the key moments. The final paragraphs are what always get me: the paen to friendship and good writing is as fine an epitaph as any I've ever read.

Finally, I remember when Lucia's first tooth came in. Now, that tooth has popped out, and Lucia is a big girl now, just like Peter Sis' Madlenka. "How wise I am!" Lucia exclaimed yesterday. Here she is, displaying her sagacity:


Not too long ago, Yorkshire Pudding introduced me to Miranda the Fairy, who used to leave his children little notes. Miranda the Fairy has a new job in the dental department of fairyland She left Lucia a little note with two books by Elsa Beskow in minature: Pelle's New Suit and Peter in Blueberry Land. I suspect that future tooth presents will be more modest.