Stuff & Book Review - For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Well dear reader, a few things have happened since I last wrote you. I have been a busy little bee if you will. On Nov. 24, 2006, I hosted a euchre party at my house for a few close friends. From the response I got from the attendees, everyone said they had a really good time and that they really enjoyed the food. My mum and I prepared a variety of foods for the guests, they included: Super Nachos, Pumpernickel bread with spinach dip, shrimp with cocktail sauce, bacon wrapped scallops (they were president’s choice), and for desserts we had butter tart squares and nanimo bars. Mum said she would take care of the savoury and I could prepare the sweet. The food turned out really well, and everyone left very happy and very full.

Next Topic: Book Review – For One More Day by Mitch Albom

This book was pretty close in comparison with Tuesdays with Morrie. It made me sad but also happy at the end, which was the same reaction. It was very much along the same lines as Tuesdays, topic wise. Lastly but not least, it was a feel good book that made you appreciate things as you were reading it (the simple things in life is what I would be referring to). The main character is a has-been semi professional baseball player. Mitch is traveling somewhere and he is taking a walk in this park. The park co-ordinator who happens to be cutting the grass, notices Mitch is not a local person and decides to give him the low down on this has-been character sitting in the bleachers looking sorry for himself. After hearing about this person from the park co-ordinator he decides that he wants to meet this person and hear his story from him. (I must say it’s a good thing he did that because what the parks guy had to say was gossip and we all know how that can get turned around. Mitch introduces himself and proceeds to have a conversation with the main character, he asks him what he’s doing with himself, where he’s from, etc. Through such conversation with the main character, he is told a fabulous story that makes all of us think about the things we have done in left and the things we regret in life. Mitch warns the reader that the story may seem to real to be to, but to the main character this is his soul recount on what happened.

Some quotes in the book really grabbed me and I am going to share them with you. For one reason or another it is noticeable why I choose the quote and how it may relate to the story.

First- conversation between main character’s mother and friend Rose

“Children get embarrassed by their parents,” my mother repeated.

It was true, as a teenager, I had pushed my mother away. I refused to sit next to her at movies. I squirmed from her kisses. I was uncomfortable with her womanly figure and I was angry that she was the only divorced woman around. I wanted her to behave like the other mothers, wearing housedresses, making scrapbooks, baking brownies.

“Sometimes your kids will say the nastiest things, won’t they Rose? You want to ask, Who’s child is this?”

Rose chuckled.

“But usually, they’re just in some kind of pain. They need to work it out.”

This diddy I chose because it’s true. Most of us when we act like a jerk, there’s a driving force behind it that we choose not to deal. I know that many times I have freaked out on someone when really I am reacting to them in a negative way, but the real problem has nothing to do with them. Lashing out, would be the technical term. I also chose this part because the other day I was being a dinkus to my mum, when really the problem was not with her but I had a problem with her boyfriend and how he was disrespecting her. I love my mum to bits and I didn’t mean to come off like a dinkus, it’s just I get a little hostile when I see someone treating my mum inappropriately. It’s a protection system I think, but there’s nothing I can do to change it. I’m sure you dear reader have possibly had situations where you “lashed out” at someone when they really had nothing to do with the situation at all. I put this quote in because I find it grounded me and made me re-think about the way I was treating my mum and how to approach the situation differently.

Second- spoken by the main character

In college, I had a course in Latin, and one day the word “divorce” came up. I always figured it came from some root that meant “divide”. In truth, it comes from “divertere,” which means “to divert”.

I believe that. All divorce does is divert you, taking you away from everything you thought you knew and everything you thought you wanted and steering you into all kinds of other stuff, like discussions about your mother’s girdle and whether she should marry someone else.

Now this I chose, because well it will eventually happen to my family. My parents are already living separated and it’s bound to happen eventually. I like it though because it is spoken in a way that semi conveys anger about it. Yeah I will admit my dad was a dinkus, but the hardest thing I will have to go through is the divorce I’m sure. The separation I still have trouble being totally used to it but I manage. When the proverbial ‘shit’ will hit the fan I know that I am going to be a mess though. It will be like a division of everything, and that’s not an idea that I really want to get used to. As for now, I have enough on my plate, too much to worry about the future.

Three- Letter from main characters’ mother to main character, given to him on his wedding day.

Here is what you are going to find out about marriage: you have to work at it together. And you have to love three things. You have to love:
1. Each other.
2. Your children (When you have some. Hint! Hint!).
3. Your marriage.

What I mean by that last one is, there may be times that you fight, and sometimes you and Catherine won’t even like each other. But those are the times you have to love your marriage. It’s like a third party. Look at your wedding photos. Look at any memories you’ve made. And if you believe those memories, they will pull you back together.

This quote was a must on the blog. It’s kind of a diddy that tells you what is to be important when you are marrying someone. Not that they’re a babe, wealthy, or anything else. It’s the things that you create that you will love and that’s what will keep the marriage strong, no matter what the time frame may be.

Four- Main characters mother to the main character, parting words

“You have one family, Charley. For good or bad. You have one family. You can’t trade them in. You can’t lie to them. You can’t run two at once, substituting back and forth.
“Sticking with your family is what makes it a family.”

This one is special because it’s really the main basis of what family means. For all the cheaters out there, you can’t trade what you already have in, you can only try and fix it and make it better. IF there really is no hope, then yeah there is divorce, but that’s a very last option. This quote hit me hard reader, it’s what I wanted, the ideal of what a family should be. My mum and I are good now, my dad and I not so much, but with that said we are both making a conscious effort to fix what is broken between us. Essentially we don’t live all in the same house, but we still are a family, if you use and understand what this quote says, at least that’s my perception of it.

So reader, I hope you enjoyed the quotes I pulled from the book. I hope it makes you want to order it or go buy it or borrow it. It really is a book worth reading. Some of the things said really change your perceptions about life, family, and other things. I know it did that for me, and really I think that’s what I needed. Sometimes life is too short and you can’t get what you want to do done, or what you want to say said, hence from what I took from this book, you have to live each day as if it were your last and make your life as full as possible because you never know when the rug will be “pulled out” from underneath you.