Summer and wonderful Geeks in love...

It is soon to be August, and the summer is whizzing by us at an alarming rate. I hope that you have been enjoying these warm days and our GGBC reads.
It was suggested that this month we find a story with a splash of romance, but among the geekier folk, and I think this book will deliver like Domino's on that.

Our August 2014 GGBC is a story of how even when life is hard, and we are still finding our way, we can also find each other. Dear Geeks, I give you Eleanor and Park:

Don"t be fooled by the "YA" genre label, it will bring you to many different parts of your life, and some of your current life status no matter your age. This is a story about finding a connection in a world that can be quite unkind, and that is hope that we all want and need. It is a little like what we all at GGBC are about. I am excited to read along with you, and discover some bits of our past, some knowledge about our present, and hopefulness about our future.

We will discuss this one the last Saturday in August. I'll meet you at the Park.

Beautiful Armor

John Green Makeup Video

Oh John Green, how I adore you, and this made me think of my own relationship with makeup. Confession: I love it. Not lots of it, not over the top Baywatch babe makeup, but I think it is wonderful stuff. 

My mom has severe rheumatoid arthritis, and she feels pain most of the time. She has had nearly 40 surgeries, countless hospital stays and had to endure things no one should have to. My mom puts on makeup everyday. Every day. She has put it on while in a wheelchair, while both hands are bandaged from surgery, she never goes without it. She doesn't do this to satiate some vain standard of beauty, she does it because it makes HER feel good. In a life with many things out of her control, she has made this a ritual to remember and bring forward the woman without arthritis, the woman who simply is her, standing strong and fully in herself.

After an accident left me recovering in many ways over the last year, I have found myself doing the same thing. I feel terrible, I'm not going anywhere, but I need to remember that there is still a me in there that is more than all that, the me that wants to feel well and whole and happy. Makeup doesn't cure disease of body or pain in our mind or hearts, but sometimes doing something that makes you feel even a little better, something you can choose and do for yourself is worth everything. Feeling happier IS everything. 

Never forget to do the even small things you do to lighten your load, and never be ashamed to wear your beautiful armor, no matter what it is.