by Bette Lee Crosby
A very diversified author, Bette Lee Crosby has used a true story for the basis of this unusual book of loss and retrieval of spirit and joy. A single lonely child who dreams of a big family, but has a family and friends who bring happiness to her life. Then one day as Elizabeth becomes a young lady, a young man is suddenly like a new addition to the family. A little worrisome at times but these two are very obviously in love and when he gives Elizabeth an engagement ring she is over the moon. Elizabeth has always dreamed of having lots of children and apparently Jeffrey wants the same. Whatever doubts the parents may have could be interpreted as fearing losing their daughter, after all, they have been a family of three for so many years. But they help them get a home of their own, and soon the first child is born. Thus it begins, a fairytale in the making.
But time has a way of passing and the second child arrives. Beautiful happy children. Life is good, the children are loved by all the family. Soon the fairytale will be falling apart. Pressure of work, pressure of raising a family, pressure of trying to keep up with bills, the usual trials of early years of a hasty decision of marriage and children. Problems everyone can relate to at some point in their lives. But Jeffrey believes the opposite, he believes he has been chosen to have problems and that someone should help him, and at this point the fairytale is mostly over. How little he knows about life. How little time his own family must have spent to bring up a seemingly good, caring man but rather a man who is fractured with what he can't do for his family. So many in life have hidden problems. Most deal with them in semi-organized manner, but there are those who will trip over the "cracks in the sidewalk" without even realizing the road they are heading to. With a third child on the way with complications, Jeffrey is lost in the cares of family and bills and lack of customers coming to buy at his store and the goodness in him becomes lost with the stretch and the fear.
This is a joyous story and a completely sad story. If life were easy, there wouldn't be stories like this, but that is not the way it would be. Once that loss of control of self takes hold it escalates into oblivion. And yet their kids mean a lot to both parents. Unfortunately, one is about to deliver the third child but there are serious complications. Liz must deliver early for the baby's health. And now this happy loving family has broken. Keeping in mind this is based on a true story, this is a very strong image of how people will/can react to each other. A man who is caring for the children (until another woman comes in but I'd be unsure as to how quickly that mistake would be complete), he does care, but begins to lose sight of the childrens' needs as far as their mother's condition goes. A mother who is in terrible crisis healthwise and wants only to be able to see her children, visit with her children and is being denied. Grandparents who learn that in their state they have no say in anything, not even to take care of the children sometimes. So here is a story that can't come full circle. Hatred is very close to the surface, hatred of others, hatred of self, Elizabeth appears to be showing no hatred, but how much time does she have left? There is so much more going on in this tale, and very likely it is similar to other misconceptions of life. How long can people go on under stress. We hear about it all the time. Some hold on longer than others but the end result is too often the same. This story should be read. It needs to be read. Someone's life is going to be so full of stress and feelings of uselessness. If only we could understand each other, care about each other, and give the other something to live for.
This book is really special. Thank you Bette Lee Crosby.
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