March: Sustain

Connection:
 I started the month with a great night out at Alpha Epsilon Phi's Silent Auction to benefit Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation. I had a great time with old friends, new friends and my husband while supporting a great cause!

I got to volunteer at my son's middle school for career day! It was great connecting with an age group I don't always see a lot of. 

After attending a Shabbat dinner, my friend Beth and I went out to Chartreuse and the Detroit Institute of Arts. I also had a great dinner with my co-worker Christie and got to try a new Mediterranean place!

And of course, another great book club this month!

Family:
We all took a trip to Kalamazoo to see a friend in a concert performance. We all saw A Wrinkle in Time and Ready Player One together which were books we had listened to.

Faith: I read 1 & 2 Corinthians and purposefully prayed each day.

Health: I exercised 37 1/2 hours in a month with 31 days, yea! I did weights at 3 times a week and moved up to 15lbs.


Intellect: Books I read this month
Michelangelo in Ravensbruck: One Woman's War Against the Nazis by Karolina Lanckoronska. This was a really heavy book, so it took me a while to read. But it was also a very interesting account of one woman's experience resisting the Nazis and subsequent imprisonment. Countess Lanckoronska was a University professor in Poland who's social standing and education often gave her preferential treatment once she was imprisoned. One of her most vivid descriptions happens close to the end of WWII when the city around Ravensbruck was being bombed and yet the concentration camp saw balloons lighting the sky and later found out they served as guides so they wouldn't be touched by the bombing. So much history happened during the 94 years Countess Lanckoronska lived, but the defining era became WWII during which she was in her 40's, not young and not yet old.

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Lauren Willig, Beatriz Williams. I really enjoyed this book and the story of Olive, her daughter and her granddaughter who's lives are intertwined by a room at the top of a mansion that Olive's father designed and who all seem fated to miss their one great loves.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I really liked this book, it was different from what I usually read and had varying viewpoints. Tucker Crowe has been out of the spotlight for two decades after abruptly leaving behind a successful music career. Duncan has been obsessed with Crowe's music and his girlfriend Annie is not quite sure why. When their relationship ends, Annie begins an email relationship with Tucker Crowe and all of their lives take turns they weren't expecting.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. I really liked this book about a boy searching for home and the routes he takes to get there. The backstory has him confronting racism in the town he races to.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald. What happens when a guest from another country arrives in town and finds her host has died? Sara makes herself part of the community and opens a bookstore in a seemingly dying town. All of the characters in this small town have rich histories that contribute to their growth and changes throughout the book. This is a story about small towns, the love of books and being open to change. 

This is a preview of our upcoming road trip!