Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Nancy Drew Was a Great Role Model




My mom came to town last week so she could finally see the house all finished. She oooooh-ed and aaaaah-ed over all the hard work Chad and I did on this house, saying she hardly recognized it. Yay! She also harped on her and my dad's initial impression of our house purchase, that we were crazy and might get divorced over the very bad decision to buy and fix-up such an old house in need of so much love. Boooo... Have a little faith in me, lady. I know what I'm doing most of the time, and I know when to call in the pros to help me.

Mom shared a ride to Shreveport with Chad and me so we could attend Grandpa Regan's memorial service. It was a lovely service despite the Shriner (yep, the dudes with the funny hats who help raise money for burn victims) tradition to play Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. It was hard to see my dad's family again for another funeral so soon (six and a half months) after Dad's funeral. I got sick for a few days, as if that physical sensation of grief came back for a little visit. I'm feeling better now.

Mom also brought my old Nancy Drew books to me! I can't wait to re-read them. I wish I had the whole collection of the original 56 novels, but will make due with the 13 that I saved from childhood. When I was in elementary school, I would take my allowance every week to the Parisian's department store in Birmingham and buy another hardback book from the Nancy Drew series. I also borrowed a lot of the books from the local library, which explains why I only own 13 of them. I was flipping through the books and found an old Garfield bookmark. Memories of being a precocious little bookworm flooded back. I loved to read the mysteries in which teenage Nancy was so empowered and fearless in her quest to solve the case. In an age before the term "girl-power" was in popular use, Nancy Drew embodied girl-power! I eventually graduated to reading Agatha Christie mysteries in middle school. By then my family was living in Cross Lanes, West Virginia. I would take the bus into Charleston to the mall and buy my mysteries at the dreary Walden Books, which was not nearly as posh as the Parisian's department store.

If I hadn't had Nancy Drew as a role model at such an important developmental phase, would I have dared to buy this old house and work so hard to make it our home? Who knows. Maybe watching too many episodes of Trading Spaces back in its heyday had a little something to do with it.