Isn't it Romantic

A friend of mine just introduced me to the fact that you can use stumble upon  to just stumble weddings.  I am only slightly ashamed to admit that I spent the majority of my morning doing just that.  This not only put me in a very romantic mood but it made me want to plan a wedding really badly (don't get excited i'm not getting married anytime soon).  So when I reflected upon Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah Plain and Tall it hit me...this book is a romance.  Not a trashy sultry $2 mass produced romance novel (the kind everyone thinks of when you say romance) but a sweet, simple, innocent romance filled with the best kinds of love.

In the beginning its a little hard to grasp the romance.  "Papa leaned back in his chair, 'I've placed an advertisement in the newspapers. For help.' 'You mean a housekeeper?' I asked surprised...'No' Papa said slowly, 'Not a housekeeper.'  He paused. 'A wife." So in our modern feminist society this is a little jarring.  But if you dig past the modern independent woman part of yourself (or the image that women are modern and independent if you are not a woman) you find yourself admitting that the idea is a little adventurous and, if it worked out, what a romantic story-well at least I admitted that to myself.  Really what's the difference between answering a newspaper ad and going on the bachelor or eharmony?

The rest of this book is the story of Sarah falling in love with Caleb, Anna and Jacob and of the family falling in love with her.  This is one of those books that I have read over and over again since it was first assigned in fifth grade.  My name is Sarah and so many of the kids in my class called me Sarah plain and tall for months after we read the book, but I didn't mind because I thought she was wonderful.  Now that I am older when I read it I see the hidden traces of romance.  "Finally, she touched Papa's shoulder. 'It will be alright, Jacob.'  Papa said nothing.  But he put his arm around her, and leaned over to rest his chin on her hair." In that moment of comforting one another they became a couple. And everybody said, "awww."

This is one of my all time favorite books.  Even if you only pick five of the books I blog about to read this absolutely needs to be one of them. It is a charming romantic story that you can lose yourself in and one that makes you feel happy after you've read it.

Finding the romance, and falling in love...that's kids stuff.