Before I get into the real post for the day, I wanted to add an entry into the “Electronics Hate Me” diary. I am an Apple gal – computer and iPad- and have been for years except for my phone, which is Android based. However, I can load music (albeit not easily) from my Mac to my Android and I had a lovely, curated playlist on my phone for days when I’m feeling down (I’ll share the list at the end). Apparently during the phones latest update, it erased the songs from the playlist. The title of the list is still there, just not the songs 🤦♀️. It took less than a week for another electronic to show its hate for me 😆. Stay tuned there is sure to be more occurrences, probably when I go to reload the playlist.
Today I thought I would do a quick dive back into my love of books with a suggestion for people to check out. I finally finished Us Against You (Fredrick Backman) and I was blown away by the authors insight and compassion for the characters in this book. Set in a small Swedish community, Backman weaves together all of these individual stories from the aftermath of rape, to dealing with an alcoholic parent, to the struggles of a closeted gay male, to a marriage on the brink and more with hockey at the center of it all.
“Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did. Have you ever seen a town rise? Ours did that too.”
Us Against You
This quote is the crux of the story. All the stories lead to the moment the town falls. And all of the stories are part of its rise as well.
This is not usually the type of book I read. But I am finding that the books that are out of my norm are also the ones that ask me to read a little deeper, to look a little harder at the world through the eyes of these characters and to learn a lesson or two along the way.
I will leave off with this one last quote from the book that, metaphorically speaking, knocked me on my ass because it is so heartbreakingly accurate for the times we are living in right now.
“It’s so easy to get people to hate one another. That’s what makes love so impossible to understand. Hate is so simple that it always ought to win. It’s an uneven fight”
Us Against You
So, let’s combat that notion by committing random acts of kindness wherever we can so that hate doesn’t win. And as always – Happy Reading!
My (currently deleted) Playlist
This Is Me – Keala Settle version
Fight Song – Rachel Platten
Are We All We Are – Pink
Bitch – Meredith Brooks
Feel It Still – Portugal the Man
My Fight – From Ashes to New
Blow Me (One Last Kiss) – Pink
Live Again – From Ashes to New
Raise Your Glass – Pink
Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
Stay This Way – From Ashes to New
Live In The Moment – Portugal the Man
So Young – Portugal the Man
I have other play list, but this was specifically designed to remind me of who I am on the bad days. There are some great songs, so check out the ones you don’t know.
My Lemons My Lemonade 