Great Reads - Rob Simbeck's Daughter of the Air

Nashville deb ferries planes for the U.S. Army. How can you not read it?

A young woman from a privileged Nashville home struggles to find her place in the world, and she does, in the cockpit of an airplane. Her career is astounding. Cornelia Fort was living in Hawaii and working as a flight instructor in 1941. On December 7, while in the air with a student, she witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor. She went on to become one of the first women of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron ferrying U.S. military aircraft around the country during World War II. Tragically, she was killed in the line of duty in March 1943. She was 24. A short, yet remarkable life.

I'm reading - State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

I had never heard of Ann Patchett until the news broke that she was opening a bookstore in Nashville, after the city lost two of it's biggest booksellers. Shortly after, State of Wonder popped up on one of the 10 best lists that I follow. Coincidence? Maybe, but I took it as a sign. And what luck. State of Wonder is a wonderfully written tale of pharmacologist who steps way, way outside of her comfort zone in an effort to comfort the wife of a missing colleague who doesn't believe that her husband is dead. Sometimes it pays to read a book that outside your own reading zone.

Happy New Year!!

Farewell 2011. Welcome 2012! And I'm off to a very unproductive start. The flip side of that is I'm calm and relaxed, if feeling a bit guilty. I spent the day all comfy in my sweats and had a movie marathon and a rather eclectic mix it turned out to be. First up, an indulgence in the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice followed by Evita, Moulin Rouge, and Sliding Doors.

This year will be a period of transition and renewal as I continue to try and figure out what exactly it is that I want to do with my life. You'd think I would have figured it out by now, but I'm feeling strangely unsettled. What will the new year bring?

Fear

An interesting emotion. It can save lives (authentic) or destroy them (inauthentic). It can be in your face or attack so subtly that you don't realize it for weeks, months, even years.

Disappointment

Disappointment comes in many shapes and forms. The most hurtful may well be when a friend turns on you. Are you ever able to let go? How do you move on when you still have to share with this person? When you have mutual friends? Do you divide them up like books? Are there any answers?

Bentley

I wish you could meet Bentley. He's one of the big reasons I still enjoy putting pen to paper. He's sleek and just glides across the paper leaving a trail of ink. He's not any louder than the clicking of keys, but he's not quiet either. There's a soft scratching sound that he makes when he's in action...It reminds me of my Dad's office.

Maybe part of my adoration for him is nostalgia. No matter. He's still my Bentley. Is it strange that my favorite pen has a name? I don't seem to mind that he's high maintenance--cleaning, rinsing, refilling--he's worth it. Every time I clean him out I go through a period where I just have to write with him. My journal is filled with

"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country,"

and

"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs."

Time

Time. Why is it that there never seems to be enough of it? Are our lives really too busy? Or do we just have time management issues? Until recently, I would have said the later, but lately, I'm starting to wonder. I find myself these days with "extra" time on my hands. As I've set about taking on some projects to fill that time, I find myself not having enough. Am I overextended? Have I become so accustomed to not having enough that I can't function unless I feel that I'm crunched for time? My to-do list keeps getting shorter, but I don't have any more time. What is this mysterious concept? Why do I feel enslaved to it? How do I make it stop?