Mary Polly, Simon and I are in Chicago with my mama to keep my sister, Anna company while her husband, Bob is attending Sundance.  We drove up on Thursday morning and quickly shut ourselves inside my sister’s house upon arriving because the high for the day was -1 F.  Friday morning, when my sister left for work, the temperature was -23 F.  It is not at all difficult for me to remember why Taido and I did not stay in the Chicago area after he finished seminary.  The snow is really beautiful from my seat by the fire.  I have a lovely view out the window into the winter wonderland.  But when you live here, you have to GET OUT in this weather, which is just wrong.  My nieces have like an entire armor of snow gear that they have to put on every morning just to go to school.  I don’t plan to leave the house until it is time to go back to Arkansas, where it happens to be a balmy 50 F today.  Really.  I mean, I have a Trader Joe’s list that I intend to fill, but that’s it.

So I won’t really have anything interesting to say since I am currently shut in, unless you want to hear about books. I got several gems for Christmas that I have been devouring and would love to share with you.

A friend gave me this fascinating book for Christmas called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.  The man who wrote it was shut in a hospital bedroom, or “locked in” as it is officially called.  His mind is completely in tact following a stroke that leaves him without the use of any of his body save one eye, which he blinks to dictate the entire book.  The detail I have come back to since reading this book is how being made mute robbed this man of his ability to insert humor into life, because by the time he has blinked a witty remark to someone, it is no longer funny.  He himself is the only one able to enjoy his perfect comedic timing, as he thinks his wry comments inside his own mind.  This of course, would not be my greatest woe in losing the ability to speak, since I don’t possess the ability to think of the funny remark until hours later as I am replaying a conversation alone.  Somehow it is not really comforting to me that my lack of comedic timing or quick response in some small way puts me on a level playing field with someone who has “locked in” syndrome.

A Canadian blogger that I regularly read reviewed both this book and the movie that followed last year.  I’m anxious to see the film that was inspired by this reminder of what a gift our minds truly are.

More yummy books to come from my seat by the fire.