Terribly Interesting

I was at a Christmas party recently sitting at a table between my  husband and a man I had never met, a lawyer. I asked him every sort of question and his answers were equally deep and hilarious. I asked him if being a lawyer was his dream job or if he had something else he’d like to do with the next leg of his life. You know there were wild dreams in his heart. He turned the question back to me, quid pro quo. First, let me say that I have something I am working on for the next season of my life when my kids are grown. This question he asked was about the work we do at our house. Do I ever want to not do that anymore. That hit me. I couldn’t imagine a life without hospitality. I looked at him maybe a little too serious and said, “I can’t imagine a life not sitting among the broken.” There is this sacred space that pain brings us to. It’s a rare window when the walls come down and the heart opens up. You don’t find people like that often. In the quiet of the home, I am humbled to ...

I chose this book to review because it is about a woman who does restoration for a living. Restoring a one hundred year old house, that piqued my interest. In the beginning, I trudged through it somewhat. I do not like things that are designed to manipulate me emotionally and this felt like that typical romance novel. Sad girl gets swept off of her feet by an Italian man and moves to Italy with him. As the story went on, I started to embrace it more. It became about family and how loving people in all of their imperfection is part of our beautiful story. Sometimes we get stuck in a textbook version of life and forget to love people through and in their messes. . . and ours. It's how we grow.  I thought the end of the story was rich and powerful as it slowly revealed Jesus and forgiveness. Most of the story purposefully barely leads to church. Its a seeking and finding. Of course, Italy is lovely too. You can follow the family through truffle hunts, wine pairings, pasta makin...