March 19, 2021 TEEN ANGEL

 Do you remember being a GAWKY TEENAGER? 

Well-- I was transported back in time today. Back to  that UNFORTUNATE AGE--while at an event for my son--who just happens to be in eighth grade. All of the sudden it was 1979.  I was SKIN  and BONE. Long AND lanky AND AWKWARD. Uncomfortable in MY OWN  skin. My feet were too BIG and my arms SO long they practically dragged on the ground. UGH. I was trying to fold inward--TRYING TO HIDE MY ODDLY SHAPED BODY FROM BEING NOTICED. But that was impossible because I was TOO TALL--parading around in my "high waters". Towering  over EVERY boy in school.  My boyfriend LITERALLY had to stand on a step ladder for our first kiss. NOT KIDDING.  AND forget school dances--the strain on my neck and back from bending over while "Slow Dancing Swaying to the Music" put me on a heating pad for a week. In case you're wondering-- I was also FLAT.   YUP--apparently--I was flatter than a TWO by FOUR--or so the boys told me.  Those were tough times-------- Thank God I'm back. It's 2021 and I'm not that GAWKY TEEN anymore.  It's really hard being IN BETWEEN......I remember it vividly. If only Addie LaRue, the main character in V.E. Schwab's new novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, were just a little bit older when she made her deal. Addie is not like other girls in France in 1714 who only want to get married. She wants to live, be free and travel the world, but her parents have other plans. After her parents arrange her marriage, Addie takes matters into her own hands. She runs away and meets a stranger named Luc in the woods. She then makes a deal with Luc that forever changes her life. She now has her freedom, but the cost is greater than she could imagine. It's now three hundred years later and Addie meets a man in a bookshop in New York. This is the first person in 300 years who remembers her name. I don't want to say anything more so you will have to read the book for yourself to find out about Addie's life and how the man in the book store ultimately changes Addie's future.  This interesting, very different story is about 440 pages or a 6 mile run that I did enjoy. I'm still trying to decide if I liked the ending though......let me know what you think.