Tom Lake // A book pairing

"Does anyone ever realize life while they live it...every, every minute?"

This month’s book pairing by

Crystal Rowe

of

Soul Munchies

is a delight. Last summer I read and loved Tom lake by Anne Patchett and I find it to be a particularly good pick for summer. Crystal pairs it so beautifully with a wonderful playlist that would make for a lovely back drop with your bare feet stretched out on a picnic blanket in the shade. Thank you, Crystal!

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I loved Tom Lake for its depiction of an ordinary family life. Through the story of one family with nowhere to be except home, Ann Patchett illustrates so beautifully what I felt in the midst of the pandemic of 2020: “Nor do I pretend that all of us being together doesn’t fill me with joy. I understand that joy is inappropriate these days and still, we feel what we feel.”

Since becoming a mother nearly thirteen years ago, I’ve wrestled with finding a good balance between motherhood and personhood. Motherhood is so often all encompassing, leaving little time for my own personal dreams and endeavors. 

As a teen and young adult, I had dreams to be a change maker in the world. I wanted to be known for fighting for justice and peace near and far. But over the years, I’ve changed. Maybe marriage and motherhood changed me. Or maybe it just happened over time. The person I was in my teens and twenties has become someone new - and I willingly gave up that dream in order to be a mother who stays home, loves my people well, and feels immense joy and fulfillment from it. 

The life I am living—homeschooling mother, suburban wife—was never my dream. In fact, it was the farthest thing from it. But I am so happy and so fulfilled, I can’t imagine any other life.

The person I was then and the person I am now—we both found ourselves in the pages of Tom Lake. 

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Smells like: freshly mown grass, pollen dust, hay bales stacked in a barn, hot sun, ripe cherry juice, wildflowers and mint

Looks like: A spring field full of flowering trees, a sky full of stars, a theater backstage, a 1980 Camaro parked in a secret makeout spot,  an old worn quilt laid on the ground covered in picnic fare

Feels like: coming home after a long time away, warm embrace of your family, sticky humidity of a mid-summer day

Sounds like a summer mixtape:

Tastes like: Warm cherry pie covered in vanilla ice cream, with Cherry Green Tea in the morning and Cherry Rooibus Tea in the afternoon

Best paired with a local production of Our Town 

Favorite Quotes:

“I don’t see why you have to give up one for the other,” she says.

“You don’t have to,” I tell my daughter. “You want to. You wake up one day and you don’t want the carnival anymore. In fact, you can’t even believe you did that.”

“Ask that girl who left Tom Lake what she wanted out of life and she would never in a million years have said the Nelson farm in Traverse City, Michigan, but as it turned out, it was all she wanted.”

… “maybe they are children looking at their parents and so our lives began when they began and everything else they colored in with fat crayons any way they wanted.”

Writing Prompt:

What surprising turns has your life taken? What do you look back on and think “Huh. I didn’t see that coming.” How have those unexpected circumstances shaped you?

Do you tell your children stories from your life before you became a parent? Why or why not? 

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Reading is great but sharing the books you love with people you love is even better. Share this post with your favorite bookish pals!