Time Flies!
For centuries, time was measured with an hourglass. How it works is sand runs from an upper chamber to a lower chamber marking one hour. In Latin, an hourglass with wings means tempus fugit or time flies.
Time does seem to fly these days. I just finished taking the Christmas decorations down, and now it’s Lent.
Another sign that time is flying is that Little Sister, A Family Memoir has been out six months as of March 13, and I’ve hardly begun to promote this slice of North Dakota life.
Little Sister exposes a lot about my life and my family’s life in the 20th Century, such as the stories about Easter. When we dyed Easter eggs, one always turned brown because it was dropped in too many cups of dye. And I figured out that Mom was the Easter bunny the year I received a tube of toothpaste in my basket.
I also remember the sense of freshness and new life I felt when I walked into Cottonwood Church one Easter morning. In Little Sister I wrote, “An excitement ran through the people as though the empty tomb had just been discovered.” Do you remember when everyone dressed up, the women and girls in hats, white gloves and patent leather shoes?
I still have an expectancy of joy when I walk into church on Easter morning.
Every week, I hear from people who have read Little Sister. A few days ago, a friend told this charming story: “My sister who is 90 years old just told me that I absolutely had to go out and buy this book called Little Sister. I told her ‘I mailed that book to you’ and she said, ‘Oh I just love this book, it reminds me of so many things in LaMoure that I had forgotten about. I’m going to order one for my boys so they can see what my younger life was like.’”
Other readers say they can relate to being the youngest in the family and feeling that they didn’t quite fit in. Just last week someone said she was over seventy before she quit wondering if she had been adopted!
Another result of the book is that readers are thinking about how to record their own memoires. That is so important, because our shared histories define a whole generation.
In some ways I began writing Little Sister in my heart almost fifty years ago. However, last year I felt an urgency to get it done, as though life was slipping faster and faster through an hourglass. So with that in mind, join me in saying this prayer taken from Psalm 90:12 that encourages us to make the most of our time,
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” NKJV
Writing Update
Wow! Finishing Little Sister was monumental for me and it’s taking a while to shift gears and think about writing anything else.
April 12: The Northbrook Vendor Show will be at Northbrook Mall in Bismarck from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Maureen and Shelly are setting up a fun event, so if you’re in Bismarck, please stop by. I’ve signed books there almost every year and look forward to going back.
Happy Easter!