Castles and Kids

I finished reading “The Glass Castle” this weekend. This is a memoir by Jeannette Walls. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, she writes the “Scoop” column for msnbc.com. Perhaps, it is said that that is how I know her, but it is true nonetheless. But I just have to say, I loved this book. Mainly because it was so terrifying that people could live the way her family lived. But in the end, it is a tale of triumph. Jeannette Walls and her 3 siblings were born to a mother who didn’t want to be a mother and a father who was a drunk. To feed themselves the kids would steal food out of the dumpster. She tells of a time when she was 3 when she was left alone to boil hotdogs and then she caught on fire. Her father then “stole” her out of the hospital because he didn’t believe in hospitals or the doctors who worked in them. Another time when they were moving, they loaded all of the kids and put them in the back of a uHaul (newborn baby included) and drove like that for hours. The kids had no heat, windows, etc…Those two instances don’t even begin to do justice to the horror that these children endured. And for all the Arnett’s, the family even took a turn living in Blythe. Perhaps, you guys even crossed paths.

I meant to mention this on the blog when it happened, but somehow it must have slipped my mind. But yesterday during primary I was reminded of it again. We spend the last 10 or so minutes coloring during class. Usually we try to keep it related to the lesson. Two weeks ago when we were teaching the kids about bodies and how they should be grateful for them, we asked them to draw a picture of themselves. One little girl, Keziah was very proud of her picture. She brought it over to me and showed me. She proceeds to tell me that it is a picture of Tristen, another little girl in the class. I asked her what Tristen was doing in the picture to which she replied “She is tumbling down the mountain.” Quinn and I couldn’t contain our laughter. Kids say the darndest things.