I'm reading this great book titled "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri. It's a collection of 8 stories and very well-written. I wondered about the title, but then figured it out when I read the quote at the beginning of the book:
"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Custom-House"
People often ask me how I can "stand" to have my two older kids living so far away. I really don't mind and am truly glad they are citizens of the world. I'm proud of their bravery and williness to try new things and see new places. Now I can tell people they are striking their roots into unaccustomed earth.
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2 comments:
wow--I love the quote and your comment
Molly's friends in Bolivia said we must be very cold parents to let her go so far away. They were presumably glad to have her there, but couldn't understand us. I guess to some it is inconceivable to love someone and not need to have them near. (There must be as many concepts of what love is as there are people, I suppose. Mine is the correct one, of course.) I want to borrow that book! Kim
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