I am a huge fan of Anne Lamott. Leona gave me Imperfect Birds to read and that reminded me of other books by her that I have enjoyed. I usually like her non-fiction the best, including Bird by Bird: Some Thoughts on Writing and Life, and Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith among my favorites. (Imperfect Birds is a story of the difficult relationship between a mother and her drug/alcohol-addicted teenager).
Recently a dear friend has been struggling with her adult children and I was reminded of this great quote from Traveling Mercies:
It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox, full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools -- friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty -- and said, Do the best you can with these, they will have to do. And mostly, against all odds, they're enough.I am rereading Traveling Mercies, laughing, crying my way through this insightful, irreverent look at Lamott's own journey to spirituality and faith. All of her books point to the same conclusion, that we are all "imperfect birds," trying to make do with what we have and live lives that have meaning and joy!
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