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As you know, my kids were in a recent production of The Music Man. Some of you have asked for pics and although I am not allowed to snap pics backstage, I did manage to sneak a few in. Shhhh.

The Girl from River City

"Marcellus" & the River City Girl

Bakstage Pep Talk

Me and the Fam After the Show
Extended Family and Friends After the Show

We are a rag-tag group, are we not? No one in the Fam lets me take pictures so they are always rushed and everyone is always confused. Do I stand here? Am I supposed to be in this one? What are we doing right now? That last family pic has the following people in it, in case you are curious: (left to right) my one FIL, my nephew and his lovely wife, The Hub, The Girl, my MIL, The Boy, my other FIL, my SIL, my BIL, and two dear friends of the family.

Yep. Utter confusion. That is why we always look like an ant hill that just got stepped on. I REALLY wanted to get a photo of my daughter in her majorette costume but I was so sick at the time, it didn’t occur to me to try. The Boy also had so many different costumes that I never got to snap. Oh well!

Now for the Winter Formal pic. The ONLY pic I have because The Boy had a fever and he was not feeling well. You guessed it, he wouldn’t let me take any. All I have is this one professional pic taken at the dance.

Winter Formal 2013
They look great though, don’t they?

As for today, it’s gorgeous out and we are going to spend the day watching movies. I have Flight from Netflix and then we have been on a James Bond kick so we may watch one of those movies too. For dinner, possibly steaks on the grill. Maybe Carne Asada tacos. Haven’t decided but whatever it is, it will be grilled outdoors in this beautiful weather. Oh! I just remembered that The Girl has a birthday party right around dinner time. Hmmm. Will have to figure that one out.

Reading? I am reading Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt and I started The Adults by Alison Espach. What are you doing today?

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
By Ben Fountain
(Ecco, Hardcover, 9780060885595, May 2012, 320pp.)

The Short of It:

A simple, sweet story about a young man’s brief return from the war in Iraq.

The Rest of It:

Nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn returns home on Thanksgiving after a wicked firefight over in Iraq and because it was televised, he and the other members of Bravo Company suddenly find themselves in the spotlight. So much so, that the rights to their story have been sold and a Hollywood deal is in the works.

This was a really interesting read. It’s so simple and subtle and so much of it takes place during a Dallas Cowboy’s football game, that you almost want to dismiss it for being too simple. But I really enjoyed this book for a lot of different reasons. One, it totally captured the feelings of a young man at the age of nineteen. Billy has this wide-eyed innocence that makes him extremely likable. As the minutes tick on, we are reminded time and time again that his time home is brief, that he will be returning to war and that anything is possible. The fragile nature of his existence is palpable and I thought about his situation long after finishing the book.

The other thing that I really liked was how well the author incorporated the other characters into the story. The other men each have their own distinct personalities and since time with them is so brief, this only added to the feeling that life is slipping away for them. Fountain even managed to introduce a love interest for Billy and somehow, it was plausible and I totally bought it.

This is a simple story, told well. Fountain’s ability to hold you in the moment is what made this one a winner for me. It was a finalist for the National Book Award and I can see why.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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