Children's Book...Tuesday?

In her Children's Book Monday post this week, Elise shared a list of books that are comforts to her family, books that soothe on dark days.  She asked her readers to contemplate this week if they had any such "comfort" books on their shelves...and though it is more giggly than warm and fuzzy, The Two Sillies by Mary Ann Hoberman immediately came to my  mind because of the memories it holds between its pages.

When Brian and I were parents of only two children (with a little less money but a little more time) we would visit the Goodwill on Saturday afternoons to scour their shelves for books.  We amassed quite a  collection on those  hunts, perhaps a key reason why today we have more books than will fit on our shelves.  We brought this one home one weekend and after reading it to my two, I impulsively scribbled a personal inscription on the inside front cover. 

Last week was a tough week.  It started out joyously as we moved into our new home.  Monday was busy and full with unpacking boxes and arranging bedrooms.  Tuesday was hot and sunny and the children got to test out their new wading pool.  The backyard echoed with squeals and splashes.  Then came Wednesday.  Rain came down in buckets and  the air was twenty degrees cooler plus we needed to go grocery shopping.  Because of the rain, Brian had to work late the rest of the week and work Saturday.  I was frazzled, the kids were tired, Brian was frustrated with working long days with no time to see his family. 

After one particularly gray day, I gathered with the kids on the floor and asked each of them to bring me a book to read.  As they laid their books in front of me, I noticed someone slapped down The Two Sillies. It had been hidden for awhile, first on an upstairs shelf and then in a moving box so it had been months since we'd read it, but it was the perfect cheery counterpart to my not-so-cheery mood.  I took a moment to read the words I had penned on the jacket, "To Gavin and Maddie, our 2 silly sweet babies...and to all the other silly little babies yet to come.  Love, Daddy and Mama, September 10, 2005." 

Here I sat five years later and three silly little babies richer!  

As I read the rhyming poem of Lilly and Sammy and their cats and cows and mice and barns, a calm washed over me.  It didn't erase the bad week or wash away the disappointments.  It didn't make everything better or find my lost tweezers, but it made me more aware of the blessings I have in spite of the string of days that felt out of sorts.  

It was my comfort book.