All kinds of days . . .

I was flipping through one of 15 or so magazines I subscribe to (or somehow receive in the mail--honestly, I don't know from whence some of them come), and I happened upon an essay entitled, "To Grandmother's House We Go." It was billed as a piece about a woman whose son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren would be moving in for 90 days while their home was renovated. I was pondering whether or not to read on when I saw the author's name: Judith Viorst. Of course, I would read on! Judith Viorst wrote a book I truly loved as a little girl. Do you remember it? Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good, Very Bad Day. As its lengthy and straightforward title--which I prided myself on memorizing--promises, the book tells the story of Alexander's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. His day is full of the type of crap that can tick you off when you're young, the little indignities that put a damper on your day. Your mom packs you the wrong lunch. You don't get the seat you want in the car. You face a surprise trip to the dentist after school. It always struck me as pretty honest, a narrative depiction of the same maxim you hear often enough growing up: "Life's not always fair." Plus, it's the kind of book that eight year-olds and their parents can both find funny. I look forward to sharing it with the bub one day.

So anyway, I start reading Viorst's piece in the magazine, and what do you know, she's writing about her adult son Alexander and his family. And honestly, I felt tickled that this boy who once had that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is all grown up with a wife and kids. It was like a surprise sequel or extra episode, the "rest of the story" I was so glad to happen upon. It's not that I'd been worried about Alexander all these years, but again, I was tickled to find out that he got over that terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. I read on about the joys of grandparenting, the challenges of having family "guests" for 90 days, and Viorst's eloquent description of how proud she is of the parents Alexander and his wife are. It was a nice piece, funny and honest and at the end, there was a final bonus: "Excerpted from Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days, by Judith Viorst, to be published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Copyright 2007 by Judith Viorst."

I hope that thirty years from now, I will still have stories to tell about my bub. I hope that in the interim, we will continue to appreciate the good days and the challenging ones and the humorous ones and the exhausting ones and the fun ones. Something tells me that I will and that we will. NTB.