This week we’re all jumping into a little “table talk.” We’ve posed a question based on one of our books. This week it’s Lisa Wingate’s book Blue Moon Bay:
In the story, an estranged brother and sister rebuild bonds despite a past filled with family secrets. Were there childhood adventures you shared with a sibling (or close friend)?
A few weeks ago we shared our “Where I’m From” poems. In that poem, I referenced images that linger from my childhood– a childhood spent in a rural area, far from neighbors and therefore void of friends or many social outlets. But far from being lonely I remember a rich childhood full of outdoor adventures, traipsing through woods, playing “the Boxcar children” in an abandoned lot, building dams and wading in our creek, and playing hide and seek in the barn. Though I was fine to spend time alone, I often had a companion in my younger brother.
Though now we’re both married with kids and busy lives and live far from each other, I still remember fondly the times we shared and the adventures we embarked on with only each other for company. We may not have always liked to do the same things, but we found common ground often enough to fill those empty days in the middle of nowhere.
Now when I see my kids playing together I know that they’re not merely passing the time, they’re making memories– memories that will stay with them into adulthood, that will tether them to their past, and to the people who shared it with them: their siblings.
Marybeth Whalen is raising six siblings with her husband Curt in North Carolina. Her newest novel is The Guest Book.