I just finished rereading my favorite part of Betty MacDonald's, Anybody Can Do Anything, the part where she finds a job tinting photographs back there in the 1930's in a shop where, to the owner, the more ghoulish and garish the photo tinting, the better.
I had to slip down here to the basement because Tom is sleeping (graveyard shift last night) and I was afraid my guffawing aloud would wake him.
I love Betty's books, at least, the one I mentioned above and also Onions in the Stew and The Plague and I. Her first book, The Egg and I, well, on a few levels, I didn't like, though I do own the movie.
Only Betty could give the Great Depression a funny spin and only she could make having tuberculosis in a sanitarium sound like a humorous, friend-making adventure.
Each year I reread at least two of Betty's books, but always a bitter-sweetness will hang over me a couple days. (Betty died at only 49 of cancer, back in the days when no one spoke about how dangerous smoking could be).
But something else? I always feel the yearning for even one-tenth of Betty's sense of humor. Or even less-- I'll take whatever I can.
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Many are the reasons the Bible says that.
Without a sense of humor,well, we are sunk. Generally, serious sober-side-types (or saddos, as Betty called them) repel people instead of draw them. We can even repel ourselves from ourselves, not wanting to be alone with our old, negative self.
And no, I don't mean we're to laugh our way through Life. And yes, there is a balance and a time for everything. But as for me? May I lean toward the happy side of the scale.
I'm glad I'm rereading Betty's books, for they change my eyesight as I peer closer at the way I look upon Life. And represent it.
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"Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding." ... Proverbs 3:13
"I will be glad and rejoice in You..." Psalm 9:2
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I'll see if our library has any of Miss Betty's books :)
ReplyDeleteI'm about to start a book titled Mrs. Appleyard and I by Louise Andrews Kent...and when reading her list of books last night I saw the author has written quite a few more about Mrs. Appleyard...I hope I enjoy this book enough to search out the others :)
(and love that cabin...)
Laughter is also great for aching feet. :-) I found that out this weekend walking with a big group. There was a lot of great fellowship and laughter on the walk, and that really made it possible to keep moving when I just wanted to stop.
ReplyDeleteMrs. G.--oh, I hope your library has at least a couple of Betty's books! Most libraries have her children's books, which by the way, I am finally reading now for the first time. Let me know if you find Onions in the Stew--that's my favorite!
ReplyDeleteJennifer--congrts on your *long* walk! I read about it over at your blog...wow! I think I would have dropped somewhere in the middle and quietly died. heh.
Thanks, Ladies! Blessings, Debra