The Street of the Lifted Lorax

This summer at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, I especially enjoyed Seussville, and there I especially enjoyed The Street of the Lifted Lorax. 

The Lorax was one of Josh’s favorite bedtime books.  So much so, that he had it memorized and could recite long parts of it in his adorable one-year-old voice.  Timothy also loved it as a child.  Steve was the one who bought the book, and I will always remember his voice reading it and then Josh’s baby voice chiming in.

As a children’s librarian, it seems especially appropriate to celebrate The Lorax with this sequence of pictures:

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They had a plaque quoting from the beginning of the book:

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Here’s the devastation left behind after the Thneed factory ran out of truffula trees:

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“On the end of a rope he lets down a tin pail and you have to toss in fifteen cents and a nail and the shell of a great-great-great-grandfather snail.”

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“Then he grunts, ‘I will call you by Whisper-ma-Phone, for the secrets I tell are for your ears alone.'”

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SLUPP!  Down slupps the Whisper-ma-Phone to your ear and the old Once-ler’s whispers are not very clear, since they have to come down through a snergelly hose, and he sounds as if he had smallish bees up his nose.

” ‘Now I’ll tell you,’ he says, with his teeth sounding gray, ‘how the Lorax got lifted and taken away…'”

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They tried to put a more positive spin on it, but the stump below is supposed to say UNLESS:

“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.

“SO . . .  Catch!” says the Once-ler.  He lets something fall.  “It’s a Truffula Seed.  It’s the last one of all!  You’re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.  And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.  Plant a new Truffula.  Treat it with care.  Give it clean water.  And feed it fresh air.  Grow a forest.  Protect it from axes that hack.  Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.”

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Christmas Letter 2008

Merry Christmas!  I don’t have the physical addresses of all my online friends, so I’ll post a blog version of my Christmas letter.  First, my two fine sons smiling down on us:

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2008 has been an eventful year for our family.  Last December, I finished my Master’s in Library and Information Science.  I got to march in graduation on my birthday in June, exactly 21 years from the day I marched for my Master’s in Math.

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By February, I was a full-time Children’s Librarian (okay, “Youth Services Manager”) at Herndon Fortnightly Library — the very closest public library to my home.

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Timothy is 14, and a Freshman in high school.  His big event of the year was being accepted to the local magnet high school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.  TJ was rated the Number One high school in the nation by US News & World Report.  It’s an amazing school, and we are so blessed that Tim gets to go there.  It’s a public school, so it’s free, and they even provide bus transportation.  His favorite class for first semester is Film Study, perhaps influenced by his brother.

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Josh, at 20 years old, finished his Bachelor’s degree in Film from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida.  We got to go see him graduate and visited some amusement parks while we were at it.  Now Josh is out in Los Angeles, staying with my parents, and looking for jobs in the film industry.  So far, he loves LA, particularly all the independent theaters.  Kind of funny — he’s near his birthplace (Anaheim), and I’m near mine (Washington, DC).  The circle of life?

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I spent the year facing the “reality” that, like it or not, I’d be divorced this year.  About a week before our first court date in November, our lawyers finally reached an agreement.  A few days later, I learned that Steve had a dispute with his lawyer, would not sign the agreement, and was dropping the case!  (For now, anyway.)

So, we are still married.  And I have no idea what God is up to in our lives.  This is what I do know:

— God is good, and God is faithful.  He is filling my life with things to be joyful about.

— Being a “career woman” is fun!  I really do love being a children’s librarian.

— I love connecting people and books.  My website of book reviews, http://www.sonderbooks.com/, is going strong.

— I’m writing again!  And that also feels wonderful.  I have a book out there being considered by a publisher.

— I am part of a loving, caring community at Gateway Community Church.  New and old friends there have been my lifeline.

— Northern Virginia is beautiful!  I’m enjoying walking in the woods.  I still love taking pictures.

I’m afraid I spend a lot of time online!  I’ve gotten a real kick out of connecting with friends from all the different phases of my life via Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=753450664&ref=profile

I’m enjoying posting on three blogs:

This one:  www.sonderbooks.com/sonderjourneys  A standard blog, musing about life.

www.sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes Quotes from all the great books I’m reading and things I’m learning.

www.sonderbooks.com/sonderblessings A little way to count my blessings and to remember to be joyful.

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

Wishing you much joy,

Sondy Eklund