I am a member of two book clubs, if that tells you anything about my obsession with reading and being around others who love it as much as I do, and my longest-running group has this book as its most recent pick. One thing I love about this group is how we've been through so many stages of life together: working women (most of us teachers), then new moms, and now "veteran" moms (if there really is such a thing - I know I ALWAYS feel like a novice) whose oldest children are venturing into school. It's been a blessing to share common experiences with these women, receive their counsel, and escape together into some literature in the midst of our busy lives.
The Ten-Year Nap centers somewhat around the stage of life we're currently in which, for pretty much all of us, is home with our young children. Set in New York City, this novel has as its primary characters four women in the midst, or rather, the tail end, of their "ten-year-nap" from the working world. The story vacillates back and forth between their present and past, following primarily one current year. Initially I felt a little despondant for these women. They spend a great deal of time contemplating the life that was versus the life that is and also reluctantly give some thought and discussion to what's to come. They don't exude an overwhelmed joy at the privilege of raising their children. Many of them seem lost and disheartened by the fact that life didn't exactly bring them where they expected it would. Each of them has a different "status", if you will, among the stay-at-home moms: those who don't need to work but go on interviews for kicks now that the kids are older, those who should be working but just don't realize it yet, those who are afraid in a sense to follow their true heart's dream. Each of them also comes from a different "status" in the former working world: having left careers they loved, careers they felt indifferent about, and some feeling as lost as to what they "should be doing" with their lives as they often feel currently in motherhood.
As I continued reading I found that rather than pity these women I could actually relate to them (which made me pity myself a little actually). I certainly don't always exude a lot of joy about the blessing of being home with my kids, now that I stop to think about it. I know what it's like to feel unsure that your career path was the right one and also find myself experiencing some trepidation in regard to the future of that path.
BOTTOM LINE: You moms out there will probably find your wheels turning about your own life as you read about the lives of these women. It's a good kick-start to think about past choices, current choices, future choices, and just about what it means to be "Mom". It also underscored for me the importance of my Christian faith and what a comfort it is not to be out there "on my own" but to have my guiding Savior and the love of close Christian friends to walk through life with.
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