Time for a new perspective

We have been trying to find a book lately for Darien to get inspired about. Magic Tree House has come and gone, the Disney fairy series was last year, and Junie B Jones (thank goodness) was a one afternoon wonder. Even the American Girl series books kept her in the moment, but she wasn't so inspired to read them on her own. I finally convinced her to listen to me read her the first chapter of this one, a book I had bought at the book fair months ago - and alas - we have a hit.

I think the draw for Darien is that she swims like a fish herself, and often refers to herself as a mermaid. This tale starts out with a girl entering water for the first time and feeling her legs start to fuse together. D fills with anticipation with each few paragraphs and seems to have finally clicked with something - perhaps the hope that she is secretly a mermaid as well.

The reason I'm thinking about this so much right now, aside from her jumping in to my bed this morning to tell me that Emily had met another mermaid last night after I left, is that we are facing some big changes here as well. Similar to the character Emily in D's new book, the house hold/marriage is about to under go a metamorphosis. Unsure of what these new changes will mean for our family, I'm feeling a little like Emily: apprehensive and excited all at once. When my husband looked at me last night and commented that I "didn't look too sure" about things, I later tried to explain where the roots of my apprehension may be sprouting from, only to fall in to the familiar trap of defensiveness/fix it rather than acknowledgement. He was looking for me to be in the next chapter already, having embraced all the change himself, while I was, for the moment, feeling a little more unsure of what might be happening to my "legs" . . . . I'm going from being a land walker to a tail flapper having my workaholic husband join me full time and although very excited about the new things out there to discover about my husband and my relationship, still processing the transition phase before swimming off in to the deep blue sea. In the meantime, I'll enjoy hearing my sweet girls excitement as she get's lost in the imaginary world she is discovering in literature.