The Busy Bee Society
<p class="">Several weeks ago, before This Whole Thing Happened, I entered an Instagram giveaway by our local bookstore, Bookmarks, and I won! Side note: I’ve won several giveaways in my lifetime, the first being a $40 gift card at a Home Interiors conv
Several weeks ago, before This Whole Thing Happened, I entered an Instagram giveaway by our local bookstore, Bookmarks, and I won! Side note: I’ve won several giveaways in my lifetime, the first being a $40 gift card at a Home Interiors convention (attended with my mother and her “ladies group”) when I was 11. Anyhoo, the winnings THIS time were a new, trendy-covered copy of Little Women; a matching mug; and a matching journal. Noah and I picked it up at the store after having eaten dinner out while my parents babysat. It was all very quaint.
Thus, I’ve been rereading Little Women. And it occurred to me I may never have read it in its entirety; I may only have read the abridged Children’s Masterpiece version many, many times and watched the Winona Rider movie version many more times again.
Little Women is the perfect read for times such as these, when one feels put-upon, bossed around, and somewhat poor even though most of us aren’t really. Like, the March sisters are always talking about how poor they are, but their neighbor is unimaginably rich, as are most of their friends, and they still sometimes travel abroad as the companion of older, richer relatives. And Marmee! Marmee’s little speeches have clearly been some of that childhood reading which shaped me like no other reading ever does (thanks for that notion, Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail!)
Here’s a sample:
“Then let me advise you to take up your little burdens again, for though they seem heavy sometimes, they are good for us, and lighten as we learn to carry them. … Have regular hours for work and play, make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty.”
Another thing that all children do, but which the book makes explicit, is to create little games for themselves. Making up various clubs and societies and publications, etc., which add interest and purpose to workaday days. I still do that! I don’t know how many times I’ve made the bed and sighed at our very old, somewhat shabby bed linens, but then thought “if I were a servant at Downton Abbey, I’d be very happy to have this little cottage of ours, and so grateful for my own comfortable bed, no matter how shabby the linens.” And then I feel better.
One of the “games” the sisters play is called the Busy Bee Society. They pack up a picnic and some handicrafts that must be done (which we all find ourselves needing to do these days), head off to a pretty outdoor location, and the only rule of the game is one mustn’t be idle, but stay busy.
Around my house this week we’ve definitely been playing Busy Bee Society. I’ve been making masks for days (I joined Project Mask Winston-Salem, but I’ve been using my own fabric stash to make masks for family and close friends); Noah’s been making bias tape (he loves measurements, geometry, and machinery, so making bias tape is the perfect pastime for his previously idle hands); and Ethan has even taken an interest in sewing! Didn’t see that one coming.
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“You know, this looks simple,” Ethan said, holding a finished mask, “but there’s really a lot of work that goes into it.”
“STORY OF MY LIFE, KID,” I said to him. Then I remembered that in this scenario, I’M Marmee, and I vowed to be more gently wise and revelatory next time.
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