The Secret Garden
When I was 10 years old, my mother remarried and she was able to reunite our family for the first time since I was a baby. My slightly older brother Dave and I had lived in foster homes together all those years. There we were at last, all under the same roof again, my wonderful mother, my not-so-wonderful alcoholic stepfather, my oldest brother, Jim, whom I barely knew, Dave and me. We lived in a tiny duplex that year that I entered the 4th grade at Chester Arthur School. My teacher Mrs. Engel had a rule that if the class was quiet and well-behaved, she would read aloud to us from 2:45 until 3:10 when it was time to go home. I took it upon myself to be the classroom enforcer and keep the other kids in line because I really wanted to hear that story. (Here’s where I first learned that I could influence people when coming from a positive place.)
Mrs. Engel was reading to us from The Secret Garden. Does anyone remember that classic children’s book? It was written by British author Frances Hodgson Burnett and first published in 1911. I loved being read to and I really loved this story about Continue Reading