Stranger than fiction

Today's To-Do List:

___wake up. (duh)

___fuel up with 36 oz. italian roast coffee, raisin bran w/sliced bananas & tons of milk (check!)

____ drop off kids at school (check!)

___stop at library on way to gym, quickly pick out books for kids (check!)

___drive my lazy self to gym,  plant jiggly self in front row of Body Pump class, weights gathered and assembled on bar, prepare for Miss Triathalon-running,  over 70-lbs. of weight on her bar for squats, thunder thigh instructor to whip me into less-jiggly shape. (check!)

___crawl out of class so weak and even jigglier that i cannot even open my car door (check!)

___go to other library and spend just a few minutes picking out a few books for myself, for next week's solo trip to Wisconsin to care for elderly parents for a week (chhhhhh-uh, did you say, a Few Minutes? like 15 max?)

ahh, therein lies the problem.  Not only does this creative type easily lose track of time (it was an hour and a half later the next time I checked) but I have a serious problem finding good fiction that I will actually enjoy reading.  I wish I just fit into a niche of a certain type of book, like mystery, fantasy, suspense, romance, (gag) or historical fiction..(zzzzz) but i don't. I have to be able to relate to the heroine in some way, and that's the hard part.  My life is stranger than fiction.  There's nothing, no character any bestselling author can come up with that comes even close to the strange quirky, eccentric, weirdness of my life.  My drama.  oh sure there's plenty of books on similar dramas like mine, but they're often cast in a dark light, with too much cursing and behaviors even more despicable than mine.  

So I meander to the "inspirational fiction" section, thinking surely I'll find something a bit more positive, with cleaner language and a more hopeful, inspirational ending.  But just a short gaze at these stacks of pretty colors and sweet titles brings to mind one word of classification:  "inspirational romance".  Triple Gag!!!!!  And these characters, come on, these neat-and-tidy, prim-and-proper Christian girly-girls who dream of nothing but china patterns all their lives, excuse me while I ralph into the nearest book drop..

After ninety minutes of frustratingly searching these stacks, my stomach now growling from only being fed a puny energy bar and gatorade after the gym, I finally pick out 4 books:

1. the song reader - about a girl with a secret gift of reading people's lives by the songs in their heads. As the cover reads, "Can the lyrics to a song reveal the secrets of the heart?"  I think I can relate to this. 2. the ten year nap- ahhh, really? if only that were a thing, i'm down... 3. living on the couch, a psychological thriller exploring the mind of a psychotherapist, (i think i have some relatable experiences here..) and 4. shout down the moon- about a girl who sings in a band and ironically, learns to use her "voice" in other ways, having the courage to trust in her talent and in her even bigger heart. 

Chances are I won't even get around to reading these books I painstakingly picked out today.  My easily-bored or distracted mind will find other things to obsess over on my trip. But at least I had fun trying.  Perhaps a book review will be on the agenda in a couple weeks or so.  Just for practice. just everyday writing.