Oh Tho Precothiouth

I referred to this story in my last post and have decided to tell it. Don't worry, it's a shorty.

A few years ago we went to Virginia to visit some friends. On one of the days we went to Washington DC to see the sights--highly recommended, beeteedubs. As we neared the end of our visit to the Museum of Natural History, Tanner came giggling over to us to report the conversation he had just overheard. We were standing in a room with a timeline of the different prehistorical eras on the wall, represented on the floor behind a glass partition by various models of small creatures that lived during the corresponding eras. The convo went something like this:

5 year old boy to a man we assume was his father, though he could very well have been his uncle or cousin, possibly even a guy from the Big Brother program, but let's get back to the story before we ruin it with speculative trivia: "What?! I didn't know there were thealth (seals) in the Methothoic Era!"

Accompanying male adult, pointing to the timeline: "Oh...no, that's the Cenozoic."

Boy: "Oh, haha. That makth more thenth."

Not sure if it was the lisp, Tanner's rendition of the lisp, the fact that a 5 year old boy would even have that conversation, the fact that Tanner was so immensely amused by it, or, most likely, some combination thereof that we have found so funny over the years, but let's just say that last line is common around here.

Upon my tenth reread I'm beginning to worry that this is one of those stories that is funnier in person than in writing. Hope not.

And fine, if it's driving you crazy the title of this post is Oh So Precocious. In lisp.

I 'Heart' YA too!

Oh, hahaha! You probably thought I died!

Must we talk about this again? Sometimes I go on hiatus. For long periods of time. Just accept it. I have.

^That was a fun paragraph, don't you think? Lots of little minisentences. And they got progressively shorter, haha! It's true, I'm easily amused--but that's what you love about me! Okay, friends, let's get down to bidness.

Part of the reason for this latest absence is that my missionary came home from Fiji just in time for Christmas. Then he left again after 3 little teeny tiny, inadequate, yet abundantly appreciated weeks to go to BYU Hawaii. I'm telling you, he ripped my heart right out and took it with him in his carry on.

Whoa, I almost launched into a diatribe about how painful it is when children grow up and leave you, but frankly I'm a bit tired of sobbing thinking about it all the time. I'm finally ready to put my big girl panties back on and just deal with it. Oh, so easy to say, haha, whatever...so ANYWAY!

Today I would like to tell you about something I'm excited about. It features my Aunt Suzanne, whom we used to call Aunt Suzie, but then she made everybody start calling her Suzanne, which was really hard to get used to, but then I did and now she's decided to go by Suze, which I thought was "Sooz", but it's "Suzie." I know, I found it complicated too. The reason she changed it again is because she's an AUTHOR! And there's already some other author named Suzanne Reese, so she has a new pen name and now I'm having a heck of a time trying to make myself call her Suze! Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to call her that. It's a pen name. Remind me to ask her about it later.

Aunt Suze is only five years older than me, but when you're 11 and she's 16 that's a BIG DIF! Back then I thought she was the COOLEST! I will even admit that I was intimidated and somewhat shy around her back then, because of her coolness. Our relationship has changed and evolved over the years. Now that I'm 43 and she's--hey, I'm not telling you her age! That's her business!--the difference is barely noticeable. We are very much sisterfriends now. Except for this one thing: I continue to look up to her as the COOLEST! It used to be about her big hair and how she was pretty enough to work at MCDONALDS! (Funny story--ask me some time.) But now it's more about how she's so smart (SO smart!) and a real, live published author--and a good one, too! She's creative and ambitious and still kind of intimidating with her life-planning and mothering skillz, but she accepts me with my quirks and flaws and best of all: she lets me edit her stuff. Yum! (Seriously, so yummy. Omm nom nom! Gimme WORDS!)

Her two books are Where Hearts Prosper (WARNING: this book was badly edited--not our fault; publisher's fault--grrrrrrrr!) and Extra Normal, both YA fiction, both really good.




Yesterday, Suze launched her Blog Carnival: I 'Heart' YA. It's why ay, not yuh, in case you had the same problem I did for a couple minutes. Um, I heart you too, Suze. Oh wait--OH! YA, as in Young Adult! Huh huh, that makth more thenth (<--even funnier story--perhaps I'll blog it sometime *chuckle*). Apparently there is a large demographic of YA fiction lovers and enthusiasts out there in cyberspace. Who knew? Suze did, cuz she's smart like that. That's her cute logo up there. ^

What is a Blog Carnival, right? That's what I said. Here, I'll let her tell you: 
I HEART YA is a Blog Carnival for readers, writers, and lovers of young adult fiction. Every Tuesday there will be a blogging prompt that celebrates my favorite reading genre --YA fiction. Bloggers are invited to write their own take on the topic and post a link in the comment section, or if you prefer just put your thoughts in the comments.
Uuummmm...I kinda just realized this post was supposed to be about how I came to love YA fiction.  Seriously no idea. I guess when my daughters started reading it? Yep, that's what it was. Okay. Done.

Want more YA fiction action? Want to see how to find Aunt Suze's books? Come on over to her blog: suzereese.com and see!