Every little girl knows the story of Cinderella - it is the classic rags-to-riches story that still pops up on the news often.  The thing about every good story is the perspective the reader gets - right?  What if there was another side to the story? I mean in the real-life Cinderella stories there are usually more than one angle...

As a mom I am trying to teach my kids just this point - there are at least two sides to every story.  This is especially true as we work on teamwork and cooperation, which with a two-year-old often lead to arguments and upset feelings because the other person has a different view.



So what does this mom do?  I look for a book to start the conversation that we have to be willing to at least listen to the other side of the story before we allow our feelings to be hurt and become defensive.

Enter this week's children's book:

My whole life I've heard about the battle women face in this time of history.  That as women we have to stand next to each other, because no one else will. And on some levels, maybe this is true, but the older I get, the more I experience the world, the more I realize this isn't the whole true.

Women were created to stand next to men. That statement leads me to believe that there is some mutual need for respect and support. It's not a set up of women on this side and men on the other side battling for equal everything. Granted I'm not an expert... it's just that these thoughts led me to pick up a book I never would have considered reading: Reading Your Male by Mary Farrar.

**I need to begin this review by saying, although this book doesn't deal with any topics that are inappropriate for discussion, they will most likely trigger some filters that are great for the safety of our children.  Please now that my discussion of this book is important for all women in our society, so consider turning the filter off for just this post.

There are so many moms out there that are able to just accomplish everything, at least it seems that way. When I became a mom, I was sure I was going to be one those... you know have great over the top birthday parties, home cooked meals every day that every one would love, have a house that could be photographed for magazines at a moments notice... you know what I'm talking about right?  Then reality hit.  And this mom gig is hard, and time consuming.  If I don't have a plan for my day, well it's not good!

Lonely, you can look like so many people at any given time. Your characteristics are many, your disguise impeccable.

You lurk in almost every building, around ever corner.

And yet, today, I do not know you well at all.

Being un-wired in this society sounds like an oxymoron at first - right?  I mean in some form we all carry a device that will connect (mostly wirelessly) to other people.

Personally I never considered myself addicted to any kind of "wired" product.

I have never had a smart phone or such similar device. I still use a flip phone that barely supports texting!  I know amazing right?

In my house we have one laptop, that sits stationary on a table ninety-five percent of the time, and one desktop that is tucked in a corner of the living room.

And my Kindle is the original - strictly for reading books or ordering new books from Amazon - nothing else.

Maybe it's because I always have to put a book in my bag before we go somewhere, or because I find moments during the day to sneak in a chapter from a book while my kids play in the same room, maybe it's because I make sure my kids get to the local library every week, but for whatever reason, my kids do seem to genuinely interested in reading.

Both of my boys know exactly where the books they are allowed to look at on their own are kept. It never fails that they will find a book to peruse at least once a day. That is on top of the books my husband and I make sure to read to them daily.

There are limitless expectations put upon us every single day.

Simple expectations that aren't horrible to fulfill can seem overwhelming when just one extra expectation is added to lists.

Live like this for years at end and it won't take long to start to feel unfulfilled with your life, right?

I don't know if I would have ever said my life felt unfulfilled, I have always been able to hold on to a hope that something great would happen just around the bend for me.  And in the mean time I try to focus on what my life needs right now - with two energetic boys that tends to take most of my thoughts...


However, as I read Misty's new ebook, I started to realize that there have been many dreams and hopes that I have shelved or completely let go of as my life as rolled on. Luckily for me, I could move straight into accepting those dreams as simply that, dreams. But I know that not everyone can do that, as dashed dreams are battered by real life and all hope seems to fade.

All the way through school there were many assignments that teachers gave that I dreaded - any thing that involved standing up and speaking in front of the class was torture (to stand in front of the whole school for some things was unthinkable!). There was always one assignment though that I loved - I looked forward to it. The free writing assignments. You know the ones where you got to write anything you wanted.  You could make up a story, characters, setting - the whole thing was in your control.

I realize not everyone loved that assignment.



For some, the moment the art supplies came out was pure freedom - the ability to create thrilled some (not me... but I know those who loved them).

Why do we, as people, have such desire to create? Why?