August 29, 2018 EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE ALRIGHT

Shingles. I thought those were only on roofs. Dragged myself to school on Monday--with what I thought was a pinched nerve in my neck.  Barely survived the HEAT  and PAIN only to repeat the same on Tuesday. Noticed I had some weird rash on my neck when I got home on Tuesday.  Seriously--I thought it was poison ivy. Then my husband said something about shingles.  I ignored him--OF COURSE--for a little while. Then I started reading about shingles and looking at images online and--LO AND BEHOLD--HE WAS RIGHT.  Not sure if I caught it in time but started taking Valacyclovir just in case. I have this weird rash that wraps around my neck--up my scalp--following the nerve endings behind my ear. Literally feels like someone is yanking my hair at its roots OR an alien is trying to break out of the side of my head--its that PAINFUL!!!!! Can't go to school til next week because it's CONTAGIOUS TOO. As a teacher--it's really hard for me to miss the first week of school--it's such an important time.  I have to let it go--BREATHE deeply-- go to my ZEN place. In the big scheme of life this is just another bump in the road-- far from the horrors Isabelle Rossignol experienced in The Nightingale.  

TRUE CONFESSIONS FIRST--It took me a while to pick up this book because I generally lumped Kristin Hannah into the CHICK LIT category.  I APOLOGIZE--I CAN BE SUCH A BOOK SNOB. After reading The Great Alone last month and loving it, I knew that I had to give The Nightingale a chance.  In this work of historical fiction, two sisters must confront the atrocities of war while living in German occupied France during World War II. Vianne Mauraic is a teacher and mother living in Carriveau. When her husband is called to serve France, she's left to manage the home front.  As Nazi soldiers invade her small town,  she is forced to let them billet in her home. When her Jewish friends start to disappear, Vianne finds the  courage to make a difference and becomes a Nightingale in her own way. Her younger sister is Isabelle Rossignol. She is a bit of a renegade. She joins the war effort and eventually escorts downed airmen through an escape route to Spain whose code name is Nightingale. This is essentially the story of the fortitude of women during war. Hannah tells the reader what it was like to be a woman during World War II, setting the record straight because this glimpse into history is accurate.  In addition to the historical aspect of this novel,  I loved  the writing and character development. I'm actually having trouble letting them go. Although this novel is 565 pages--or a 6 mile run--I could not put it down and was sorry to see it end. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of the powerful novel.