Soothing My Soul

A few days ago my friend Heidi over at Slightly Cosmopolitan was asking what other people do to soothe their souls and refresh themselves. I've been thinking about this more and more, as I need a little regeneration myself.

The answer that comes back to me again and again is stories. Generally this is done through reading, but sometimes I can immerse myself into a good movie or a television series. Television on DVD has been a huge boon for me in this area. But still, my tried and true method is a good book. Sometimes the book is a trashy romance or something like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Amusing, but light. I found that when I was just plain tired, but need to read, these are the books I turn to. I don't have to think much, but reading them allows me a little mental space to let go of the world and my cares.

Other times, when I am not so tired, but still need that mental space, I can read deeper books. And I do! I especially love Guy Gavriel Kay for these moments. I also love some of John Irvings' works (be picky here, his first few books are not great and the last couple didn't really do it for me either). And the last lot that I read that I loved were from P.C. and Kristen Cast, a series called The House of Night. I cannot recommend one single book, because the books that soothe me and speak to me depend on the time in my life and what I am open to.

When I stray from reading and story in general, my bigger soul soothing moments come from running and spending time with my friends talking.

Heidi, I hope that this helps. They may not be your solutions, but now you have a brief glimpse into mine.

Broken Heart

Xander has his first broken heart at the tender age of 4.5. He has a little friend at school named Sarah. He and Sarah have been the best of buddies since the beginning of school. A couple weeks ago she was sick all week and he was sad that she wasn't at school. Last Monday she returned and I was actually there when they greeted each other and said how much they missed each other.

But girls are fickle beings.

Today Sarah told Xander that she didn't want to be his friend.

From what I can gather, Xander was playing with another little boy in the class and then Sarah told him that he was "bad" and that she didn't want to be his friend. Xander seems quite confused about what he did that was "bad", and worse still, he sobbed while telling me the story.

Even though I know that this will likely blow over and that tomorrow they could be the best of friends again, I felt like my own heart had been ripped out as my young son cried over a trampled friendship.