Orphan Train

If you've read the Insomni-Mommy for any length of time, you have probably figured out that I love orphans.  Like heartbreakingly, can't stop thinking about them, LOVE orphans.  In my life, this love has led me to become a licensed foster parent, to adopt my son, to recently speak with a group of college students about my experiences.  So I was excited when Christina Baker Kline's novel "Orphan Train" came into my possession via my sister.  The title was enough to draw me in, and the book did not disappoint.

Sometimes I feel like the best representations of actual orphan care are found in novels like this one.  As I read the dual narratives of Niamh in 1928 and Molly in 2011, I was struck repeatedly by the truth and authenticity of their experiences.  Not only does this novel capture the orphan experience, but it also displays how our society has changed its treatment of orphans and its attempts to "solve" the problem of abandoned children over the course of the last 100 years.  Additionally, these stories do not shy away from the difficulties of bonding and moving forward after losing one's family.  It is a very real issue in orphan care today, just as it was in the past, that children find familial bonds challenging when they have suffered such a tremendous loss.  I applaud the author for thorough research as well as putting it all into words so beautifully and creating this compelling work of fiction.

I also just finished a work of non-fiction called "Orphans of the Living" by Jennifer Toth.  It makes a terrific companion to "Orphan Train", telling the stories of five youths living and emancipating from foster care in the 80's and 90's.  Toth holds an unflinching microscope up to an imperfect system (one that has thankfully seen some reform thanks to President Clinton, but could still use more) and gives a voice to a population that is sadly voiceless.  Much of what Toth writes about the emotional lives of these children convenes with what I have witnessed as a foster parent, and it makes me both sad and angry that these children's needs are so often unmet.  A common refrain while reading this book could be, "What is WRONG with people?!"  But it is that reality which drove my husband and myself to stand up for orphans, to step in to the gap they are falling through, to resolve to be safe caregivers for all the children who pass through our home.

Introduction

I created the name InsomniMommy a few years ago, when I began to stay up late at night and write.  Sometimes I wrote for the blog, sometimes I wrote for me.  Every so often, the writing stalls and I go back to my first love, what first inspired me to put a pen to paper back in third grade:  reading.  It's so hard to read when you are the mother of littles.  I feel like no one really told me that before this family thing happened to me.  I used to spend whole days reading, would pile books onto the library counter to check out for the week.  I got in trouble in elementary school for hiding a book within a book and trying to read Encyclopedia Brown during Science (apparently, I wasn't very sneaky).  Growing up, I would frequently become entranced by a new book, and completely tune out the world around me.  The daylight hours weren't enough, so I would sneak into the bathroom after my parents went to bed and read in there for a few more hours (when I found out that my husband used to do this too, I knew we were soulmates).  Even the first year after I had my first baby was a wonderland of reading.  I read Tess of the D'Urbervilles while breastfeeding.  I read The Quiet American while my baby slept.  I read I Love You Through and Through while he stared up at me, our bodies close.  I read Belly Laughs waiting for my husband to come home at night.  I read What to Expect the First Year whenever I was overwhelmed (which was pretty much all the time).

Like most writers, reading is as important to my continued existence as breathing and eating, and I've struggled through the days when all I read was Harold and the Purple Crayon five times.  I decided to start this secondary blog to review the books I'm reading, with the hope that this will spur me to try to read at least a book or two a month.  Sometimes friends will ask for a recommendation, and even if I've read something I love, I can't remember it.  So hopefully this will be a replacement for my memory, which is probably never coming back.

Three years ago, I picked up a book called Bird by Bird.  I was looking for anything by Anne Lamott based on a recommendation from a friend, and this was the only one the library had available.  I went searching through the stacks and pulled it from the shelf.  "Some Tips for Writing and Life" the cover promised, and I was intrigued (who would pass up advice on life? I am always open to suggestions).  Little did I know that book is practically the Bible for writers.  As I read it, ideas floated to the surface of my mind.  Characters for a story, hypothetical situations rife with drama, phrases and bits of prose.  She made me think I could do it too, this craft of writing.  I followed her instructions:  butt in chair, one inch frames, [crappy] first drafts.  Blogging was perfect for the short assignments, and getting my fingers to move and my brain to power on served as a jumping-off point for further writing.  Plus, the book is hysterical.  Later I purchased it, and whenever I am struggling to write, overwhelmed at the enormity of FINISHING, full of both self-loathing and self-aggrandizement, I turn to Anne for words of wisdom, and she never disappoints.  Through these three years, she has helped me to realize that all the insanity that I feel is actually normal, which is both comforting and concerning.  If you want to write, if you have been thinking of starting a blog for months but don't know where to begin, if you think you have something to say, GET THIS BOOK.  Odds are, you are ready, and the world needs your story.

Welcome to InsomniMommy reads!  Check back each month to find out what I'm reading.