Saturday

Ugh, my stomach's been killing me for hours.  Perhaps I should stop eating sugar.  Drove up to Granite Falls earlier today to sing at a wedding.  It was for a woman who used to sing in the choir.  I'm happy for her, she found what she always said she wanted.  I wish them all the best.  I actually cried a bit during the wedding, I never cry at weddings.  I suppose it's seeing her find this.  We sang two Finnish songs (with accordion) and one American (A cappella.).  Since I've gotten home, I've just been lying around feeling whiny (about the stomach pain, not the wedding.)

Because I finally have free time, I've decided to read Sonia Sotomayor's "My Beloved World," I started it awhile ago.  Wanted to get out of the house, so I went to the bar up the street  to read.  Mistake.  I can't read this in public (and not a good time to be wearing mascara): It's too close to home, I'm sobbing.  The stories of her parents are just breaking my heart.  I might have mentioned before that my grandmother was from Puerto Rico, she was born in 1902, and I know she had a hard life.  My family doesn't talk much about the past, but I gleaned enough to know that her story (like so many others) is so close to this, it's just breaking my heart.  I'm still sobbing and I stopped reading about 20 minutes ago.  It's so sad, and I understand her more; understand my own mother more.

The book's not meant to be sad, I think it's meant to be inspirational. (For the record, on my mother's side my grandmother was from Puerto Rico and my grandfather was from the Philippines.  My father's side of the family are all from Finland, though I think both of his parents were born in the States.)  A lot of the things people did to escape the hard conditions of their lives are pretty gutsy.  You do what you gotta do.  Sometimes you know your life will not improve if you stay where you are, and you want more, believe there is more out there, and you go.

Gonna go find something to make me laugh.

Peace