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When Izzy was born, she was taken into the recovery room and we all had to whisper, turn the lights down low, and she simply settled in to the sound of her daddy’s voice. Now, here we are…13 years later.
In a lot of cultures and religions there are rites of passage that mark the passing from childhood to adulthood — the bar mitzva, the quinceanera, etc. But the it seems like this ritual is missing from so many of our lives. Especially for girls.
Enter the 13.
This idea was thought up by a friend of a friend and a former co-youth leader of mine that noticed this deficit and decided to do something about it. It goes like this. When a girls turns 13, she gets a party. But not a party full of other teens brimming with emotions and hormones. A party full of adult women. Women who will say to her: you are valued, we are with you, we love you. Think The Red Tent but in the suburbs.
So, last weekend was Izzy’s 13. She had been looking forward to this weekend away since her big sister turned 13 a year and a half ago.
Fourteen of us packed up and drove to the mountains and nestled into a cabin.
We then told her of her value, her worth. We formed a circle of women around her. We read to her the Word of God. We gave her gifts. We prayed. We showered her with advice. We cried.
And then we partied. We ate lots and lots of carbs. We played party games. We decorated our hands and feet with henna. We created an art project so she could carry this weekend with her forever. We laughed until our sides and our faces hurt. And we kept it PG-13…barely. When we got in the van to leave, Izzy burst out with “That was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!” It was like she had been waiting all weekend to tell me that; to get Jade and me alone so she could reveal how awesome everything was. And it was. We not only told her that she was wonderful, we showed her what it was like to be a woman. To cook together. To talk about the things WE wanted to talk about. To sit all huddled in front of the fire. To show her the sisterhood that will, indeed, get you through your life intact.
When it was my turn in the circle, I reminder her of the words of Jesus, “You are the Light of the World.”
And she is.
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To see more pictures from the weekend, click here to go to Christiana Childers Photography.
The big English teacher dork in me is so super excited for Jade to be in high school (although she still attends junior high, 9th grade IS high school…). I was chomping at the bit to get ahold of her Language Arts syllabus and check out which novels she would be reading this year. She willingly handed it over:
OH, I exclaimed!!! Romeo and Juliet…. Lord of the Flies….Animal Farm….
My heart started beating faster. Ya know, I explained to her, reading this literature is so exciting. It enters you into a “club” of sorts, the club of “well-read” people. You will become more culturally literate, I tell her. I then go on to tell her story after story of how knowing the nuances of Romeo and Juliet and Lord of the Flies (especially the symbolism of that darn CONCH) will enrich and enhance her life for decades to come. That this is only the beginning of a thrilling literary thrillling thrill ride of thrills.
She looks at me.
And says, “I think I need to go put on some deoderant.”
I think I will take that as an endorsement to just how thrilling classic literature is. So thrilling, one needs to wear deoderant.
Yup.
One time, a long time ago, I found a giant strawberry that I swear looked like Jesus. I suppose if I was more devout I could have made the news or have been invited to the Vatican.
Last night, Jade did me one better.
At dinner I noticed that she appeared to be blowing her nose into her glass of milk. “Jade,” I say with as much disgust that I can muster, “What are you doing?”
“There are bubbles in my milk,” she replies with perfect candor and seriousness. ”And I had to blow on them because there were really freaking me out cuz they looked like SKULLS!”
You be the judge:
Thomas woke up in an elevator. Pitch black. No memories. When the doors finally open he finds himself at the center of a maze – called The Glade - with dozens of boys staring at him. As Thomas tries to fit in to the community around him and make friends with the other Gladers, he learns that each day runners head out into the maze to find a way out, only to return at night while the maze change its pattern for the next day. The boys still return each day trying for years to solve an unsolvable puzzle – can you say frustrating? Furthermore, the walls to the Glade close down each night to protect the boys from the deadly Grievers.
Two days after Thomas’ arrival the only girl who has ever arrived at the maze shows up. And things change. Now the boys have to find a way out. No matter what.
This is high-concept book with an over-arching consipiracy theme – think The X Files or Lost. Why are these boys living in a maze? Why can’t they remember anything about their previous life? What are the grievers and who put them there? How do they get out? Throw in dystopia, telepathy, and deadly viruses and, well, I could not put this book down. It helps that the author ends every single chapter in a nail-biting cliff hanger. I literally had to ask myself, can I make it until tomorrow to find out what happens. I made a lot of coffee the week I read this book, trying to recover from my late night of reading. The author leaves the reader guessing through most of the book, which can be frustrating at times (and if you follow Lost, you know what I mean – this books has the same feel to it) as you are practically begging for an answer, ANY answer rather than more questions.
And this book is scary. Perhaps even nightmare scary, but definitely wide-eyed, holy-crap scary.
My one criticism is the characters need some more developing. As we learn later in the book, these kids are suppose to be the “best of the best”, but even Thomas himself seems a bit whiny and sulky. But, I chose to put the weak character development aside and just enjoy the action.
This book gets my highest recommendation and it will appeal to both boys and girls 12 years old and up. The ending of this book actually makes the reader GROWL in complete and utter surprise and disbelief. Then you will get a DEMAND from your child for the next book in the series – which has not been published yet.
Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Genre: Science Fiction , Dystopia
Age: 12 and up
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