Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Little Red Book

I am a book worm. I read books everyday. I start the day with a book and go to bed with a book, not necessarily the one I started the day with. I read them anywhere, everywhere. I read them several times. I own hundreds of them. If I sit for 10 minutes, I would rather sit with a book, even if it were on a potty.

In fact let me tell you a secret, that is one place no one can disturb me.

My Wife - Honey can you do me a favor?

Me - Sorry sweetheart, I am reading a book, oops, I mean I am in the bathroom.

So our bathrooms always contain books. Luckily since my wife and older daughter share this passion, it has not caused too many troubles.

It was not unusual in our house for someone to announce "I need to use the bathroom" and run to the library to pick a book! I am bad but I am proud to say my daughter is worse. She has no sense of time. When you want her to get ready for an party, she will promptly take a book to the bathroom and come out an hour later. During that time, her mom would pop several arteries screaming

where are you, what are doing, please hurry, we are late, irresponsible, you are just like your dad....

Anyway, recently it was borne on me how much of a women world this is, at least my small world, my house.

I went to the bathroom and found to my dismay that I forgot to take along a book. So I picked one lying there, a library book, a small red book aptly named, My Little Red Book. I did not know that my wife was interested in Communism or Mao to read his book. You see I had not borrowed this book from the library.

Imagine my surprise when I read the first chapter and found that this book had nothing to do with redistribution of wealth. It was not The Little Red Book. It was about the onset of Menarche, aka, the First Period. I know my older daughter had varied interests but this one was a stunner. We all avoid this topic, definitely the men. I do not know why. Well we all have a mom and many of us have one or more sisters and have seen their pain first hand.

So I will say this.

Please read this book.

This is an anthology. Almost all of them are 1 pagers, little stories by women across of the world and their introduction to The Period and how each of them dealt with it in their own way. Even if we do not entirely understand it we may have some sympathy for our mom, sister, daughter, and better half.