I just recently read, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”, a book that has been on my book self for about four years.  My grand daughter was giving away her books she was require to read in high school.  Never reading this book I added it to my books to read. Every time I went to my bookshelf to choose something to read another book jumped out at me so I never got around to reading “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”.

Last week I found myself needing a book to read and the only one left on my shelf was this one. I started to read and found I could not put it down.  It has to be one of my all time favorite books I’ve ever read.

It’s a simple story about the life of an impoverished immigrant family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is about their struggles and their accomplishments. It is about their humanness.  It was the right book for me to read at the perfect time.

I am so discouraged today with people’s lack of humanness. I cannot believe the division in our country, the caustic behavior and lack of dignity in people today.  People in government no longer work together for the greater good of our country. Countries rather fight then work together to server the better good of their citizens.

I long for the time when families struggled to give one another a better life. A time when everyone in the family did whatever was necessary to help their family survive or have a better life.  A time when children weren’t bored because they all played together, talked with each other, used their imagination to create.

This book took me back to a time when we were more human and more tolerant.

Another book I loved was “A Man called Ove.”

This book made me cackle out load!  Ove is a 59 year old widower who wants to kill himself because he is depressed after his wife has died.  Ove is ill-tempered and unfriendly and doesn’t like the boisterous new neighbors who have moved next door to him in his neighborhood.  Ove is an isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules as he sees them.  Through the association with his new neighbors an unlikely friendship develops and what emerges is a heartwarming tale and the realization that life is sweeter when it’s shared.

The Third book that I have recently read and adored is, “All the Light We Cannot See.”

This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and also the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in 2015.  It is set in France during World War II about a blind girl and her father who works as a locksmith at the Museum of natural History.  It’s about a French girl and a German boy whose paths cross in Occupied France.

It illuminates the ways people try to be good to one another.

All three of these books give me hope that there can be a better tomorrow!

What books can you recommend that will show how our world can be more tolerant and compassionate?

Sisters

Sandy and I spent our lives together in the small town of Iota, Louisiana in Acadia Parish. Its previous name was “Pointe Aux Loups” French for “Wolves’ Point”. In the Cajun legends, a creature half man/half wolf is said to prowl the swamps, fields, and forests around Acadiana.

It was also the home to the annual “Tee Mamou/Iota Mardi Gras Folklife Festival”.  It attracts thousands of tourists and visitors on Mardi Gras day.  This Cajun celebration follows the more traditional ritual of the Courir de Mardi Gras riders who road on horseback with homemade costumes through the surrounding countryside incognito, speaking only Cajun French, begging for ingredients (chicken and sausage) to make a gumbo.  The gumbo is the centerpiece of the community supper.

Mother and daddy were the President and Vice President of the only bank in Iota and actually they were the only two employees.  They lived in an apartment above the bank while they were building our home. Sandy lived above the bank for the first year and a half of her life and I only lived there for a few months.

We moved to our new home where we had a small farm, grew vegetables and had chickens. We had a grass tennis court because mother and daddy loved to play tennis and host tennis matches with their friends.  We also had an outdoor kitchen because my dad was a great cook and loved having people over for dinners and bourre’ (a gambling game popular in Louisiana.)

Our Home in Iota

Easter egg hunt in our front yard

Sandy (born November 1, 1936

Sandy with daddy

Sandy with mother

Sandy with mother’s father                                Sandy with daddy’s father

I was a little sister for only seven years.  Sandy was involved in an accident when she was nine years old and lost her life. Almost everything I know about Sandy is what relatives and friends have told me and from old photographs of our lives together. Sandy has been my angel in heaven.  I feel she sits on my shoulder and whispers her wisdom in my ear, helps direct my life and above all protects my family and me.

Sandy and daddy

Everyone tells me Sandy looked just like daddy.  She had his dark hair and his beautiful brown eyes.  Daddy was a vey handsome man and Sandy would have grown up to be a beauty.  I’m told she had an easy disposition and was loved by everyone.

I was born on April 7, 1938. 

Sandy looking at her little sister.

I don’t remember this photo of an Easter-egg hunt but I think I do remember later events like going trick and treating.  I also remember afternoon at grandmothers’ home where all the aunts and cousins gathered on a Saturday afternoon to spend time together. Grandmother always had homemade ice-cream and all the cousins played together while the adults visited.

We moved to Church Point, Louisiana around 1941 where daddy took over the Church Point Bakery Company because his father became ill and could no longer run the bakery he established.

We seemed to have an idyllic life in this very small country town.  We were free to play outdoors and walk from one end of town to the other visiting cousins and friends to play.  We walked to & from school every day always stopping at grandmother’s home for the treats she made for us which were laid out on the kitchen table, Sweet dough pies, cookies and candy. Yum!  On Sunday afternoon our families would gather for our mid-day meal called “dinner” because it was the largest meal of the day then we all spent the afternoon visiting and playing.

In 1945 in front of the bakery the accident happened that that took my sisters life. Our lives changed forever that fatal day.  About three years later dad closed the bakery and we moved away.  This was the end of my magical childhood but not the end of the devotion I hold to this very day for my beautiful sister.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young lady who grew up in Louisiana, went to college in California and brought home a dashing your man from New York and married him.

This is a story that began on a ship on “Semester at Sea.” A college study abroad program started at Chapman University in 1965 to help students become well-rounded thought leaders and Global Citizens. Semester at Sea attracted students from all around the country and brought together a unlikely match a “southerner” and a “yankee.”

During Semester at Sea – Spring 2012 Bailey and Max along with 600 students and professors from all around the world and throughout the United States traveled 16 countries and circumnavigated the globe.

Bailey then returned to Chapman University in Orange, California where she was studying TV Broadcast Journalism and Max returned to Bentley University in Boston to complete his studies in Economics.  They were thinking this was a nice romance, but it won’t go anywhere. Low and behold cupid wouldn’t leave them alone and they continued to find time to see each other over long weekends from coast-to-coast.

Two years later, Max continued his education at University College of London and received a Masters in Economics.  Bailey studied at the London College of Fashion and worked for the NFL Network UK.  While living abroad they traveled extensively through Ireland explored Paris and Nice, Spain and Istanbul. They stayed in Athens and traveled throughout the Greek Islands.

After their studies in England Bailey and Max moved to Hattiesburg, MS while Bailey was a News Anchor and New Orleans Saints Cheerleader. During this time Max worked on his Dissertation to complete his Masters Degree.

After a quick year there, they headed to San Francisco where Max began his career in Sales and Bailey worked for a Venture Capital firm. They lived an enchanted life filled with dinners, music festivals, and hikes around the many beautiful vistas in California, etc.  They enjoyed the life of young professionals for almost three years, along with many of their friends from “Semester at sea.”

Max proposed to Bailey on a hike in the magical city of Carmel!  He thought the natural beauty of the land and sea would be the perfect place to get a yes from his “best girl” and it worked.

It was time to send out “save the date” invitations to friends they grew up with, those they met in college, friends they traveled around the world with, and family members. They wanted to follow the theme of ship and water indicative of “Semester at Sea” so they chose these romantic snapshots to portray their message.

On November 4, 2017 Bailey and Max were married in St. Louis cathedral overlooking Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.  The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France is the oldest Catholic Cathedral in continual use in the United States.  It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Bailey and her father

Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell Casey Rosenberg

Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell Casey Rosenberg held their reception at Stella Plantation situated at the lowermost part of the Mississippi River as it nears the end of its journey through the heart of the country.  Stella is a working plantation with fields of Satumas and Navel Oranges, Kumquats, lemons, Grapefruit and Pecans.

Bailey her sister and mother helping her get ready for the wedding ceremony…

A tender moment when Bailey’s father danced the first dance with her!

Max and his mother enjoying their dance together

Bailey and Max arriving at the reception!

Bailey and Max greeting guests

The toast to the bride and groom!

Bailey and Max dancing the night away!

Saying goodbye to the guests!

This is a video of the love story of Mr. & Mrs. Maxwell Casey Rosenberg may their love story be written in the stars!