Find the Funny

I have another coping mechanism to add to Alyson's great list below. Helps me survive still and I'm far from adolescence. My strategy? Laugh. I don't know about you, but I make a lot of mistakes. It really helps if I can laugh about it.

One of the things I get wrong constantly are lyrics to songs. It's been a long-standing joke with my family. Sometimes they let me go on believing I know what I'm singing and then wait until I make a total fool of myself by belting it out wrong at the most inopportune times. It's embarrassing. But I have to admit misheard lyrics are funny.

Here's one of my favorites:

Potato wave. Hehe. Make me fries.

Shameless plug: If you want some more giggles, come on over to lindagerber.blogspot.com and take a look at some of the outrageous lies going on at the DEATH BY LATTE launch party.

Really. Laughter is the best medicine.

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Surviving Adolescence: Riding!

For me, growing up in the 90s meant one thing...horses!


After school, I couldn't wait to get out to the stables and ride, groom and learn how to train horses. I lived in a small suburban part of Tennessee (Greenbrier) and was lucky enough to have this riding arena right behind my house. When I did homework after school, I could look out and watch boarders ride and train their horses. I often had to move to the front of the house so I stopped watching them out the back windows.

That Appaloosa, AJ, was my first lesson horse. Oh, he was old and yes, he was was stubborn. But he was the best teacher. He taught me how to be a rider and how to listen to a horse's needs. He was a great partner and he helped me learn how to impress the girls at my new school with my riding skills. :)


Before we moved to Tennessee, we lived in Ocala, FL. This was a horse from a horse fair my family and I attended. I made my parents sooo nervous because I was always walking up to strange horses (even the occasional stallion!) and talking to them. I was a tiny kid, but if you had a horse, I'd ask for a boost so I could ride.

One of my absolute favorite horsey things to do was trail ride. My friend Amy and I would take our horses into the woods and get lost riding. We guided our horses through people's backyards (Sorry!), over creeks (Kind of dumb, now that I think about it) and along roads that saw a car a day. That was in the mid-90s and before cell phones were so inexpensive. Imagine how far my mom would have let me ride if I'd had a cell!

Horses were my most precious thing during childhood. They gave me the inspiration to write Take the Reins and the rest of the Canterwood Crest books. Name something from your childhood that inspires your writing.

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Don't Miss These Tips!

And now, in honor of this week's "Surviving Adolescence" theme, here are a few invaluable tips for surviving adolescence, most courtesy of my 12 year old son, currently in the throes of it, home for March break this week:

1) Do not cave in to parental pressure to cut your hair, no matter the bribe. (Note: Mom reluctantly agrees, and will even add that actually, this rule applies to any aspect of personal appearance, except for stuff like piercings, etc., if you're under a certain age, as long as you keep reasonably clean.)

2) Aim to blend, but to be different, too, e.g. be friendly to all & join school clubs, but also wear cool hats, take up fencing, and subscribe to Surfing Magazine (which def makes you 'different' if you live in Canada).

3) If your school has a pool, don't forget to bring your bathing suit on swim day, because they'll make you wear somebody else's gym shorts, which is gross enough, but you'll also have to wear your underwear under them, which means you'll be walking around in wet underwear all day!

4) Keep your room clean, and do your homework. The parental tantrums that result are simply not worth it. (Okay, this one's from me, not the 12 year old.)

5) Don't worry about not being in with the most popular group--these kids are usually mean. Blend with the second or third tier. You'll be just as happy. (Also from me, but the boy agrees.)

6) Finally, have friends who are boys and girls. Don't worry about the other stuff--lots of time for that. (The boy has tons 'o friends who are girls. Yay. But yeah, I was the one who suggested this one.)

7) Don't sweat the small stuff. (Universal rule of life.) Small stuff includes things like being told your fly is undone by the person you have a crush on.

There. Done. Follow these rules and I (almost) guarantee a happy adolescence.

On a complete other note, if you're an author who read my January post on the 'Reading Capital of the World' and would like to send books to miracle worker Terri Nalls in Tifton, Georgia, you can send them to:

Terri Nalls
Charles Spencer Elementary
Tifton, GA
31794

Please enclose a note for Terri specifying what age group your books are aimed at. If they're for elementary school-aged readers, they will stay at the school; books for older kids will go into the reading room, used often in the summertime.

(Back story for those who didn't read the post: Tifton had an appalling illiteracy rate until Terri, an elementary school teacher, introduced a whole bunch 'o innovative programs and got the whole town so excited about reading, they set a world record for the number of people reading aloud at the same time!)

Happy almost Spring, everybody! And good luck surviving that adolescence thing.

Love Bev (still digging out from a very snowy winter here in the great white north...)

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