The next recommender I’ve know since college. She married a close friend of mine who I knew since freshman year when we lived on 3 East together. I attended their wedding, they were my drinking buddies when I lived in Delaware, and they now have a smart, adorable 5-year old (maybe six now) who I played early morning (i.e. 5am) games of Uno with when I visited them on My Roadtrip.
Recommendation #20 from Alison Lydecker
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
This is the second children’s book on my list (the other being Wonder), but it made as deep of an impact on me as some of the thought-provoking adult titles that I read.
Amazon describes the book as this, “The two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he’s placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, meets twelve-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost. In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires.
As someone who also has been discovering the true meaning of family, this book hit home on the importance of being around people who you can love you. And just as critical to be around people who can love and care for you, and care about what you consider important. So often, we live in families that barely know us, that have a hard time caring for us, and we think that’s as good as it gets.
I’ve learned over the past 15 months that change is always possible. We can deepen our relationships, we can have healthier, more beautiful ways to interact with the people we care for most dearly. It does sometimes require great sacrifice, or sometimes just shutting our mouth, but the end result can be experiencing love, grace, and acceptance in powerful ways.
The song for this post I just discovered today, but it’s already been slotted into next month’s Redemption playlist. It’s about recognizing your worth and beauty, as well as your brokenness. It talks about having people to hold you and know you, without wanting to fix you or make you different than you are. I think both Orbiting Jupiter and this song have many of the same messages.
Broken & Beautiful (from the movie UGLYDOLLS) by Kelly Clarkson