A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A few years ago I read the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith for the first time. I have heard a few people say they didn't like it. They say it was boring, or slow. But to me this book was inspiring, sad, and so honest. Betty Smith is a poet. This book was a memoir of her life, but her publisher said no one would want to read a true story like that, so she called it fiction. What a tragic life, yet so beautiful the way she lived it.

 

My dad gave me this First Edition book. I was so excited. He gave it to me because my daughter's name is Brooklynn and he thought it would be fun, but he didn't realize how much I truly love the story of Francie Nolan.

 

It is funny how something can be so ordinary to someone, but to another it is a treasure. I try to look at life with that outlook to make things extraordinary. 

 

There are a lot of parts of the book I love but here is one of my favorite quotes.

 

She thought: If I open this book fifty years from now, I will be again as I am now and there will be no being old for me. There's a long long time yet before fifty years. . . millions of hours of time. But one hour has already gone since I sat here . . . one hour less to live . . . one hour gone away from all the hours of my life.

 

"Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry . . . have to much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me me sincere -- deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time, so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."

 

I am not perfect. I have a lot to work on. My house isn't perfectly clean, I get upset at my kids, today I am sitting still in my pjs with no makeup on, we sometimes eat frozen pizza for dinner, but I try. I love my life, I love my kids and my husband and I try every day to be happy.

I want to live my life every minute that I can.