Have you ever had laryngitis but felt just fine? What happens to you in those moments? You get sympathy and people’s pity. They try to comfort you and ask if you need anything. Thing is, you sound terrible, but are on the mend. People don’t get it figuring that when you say you feel fine you are bluffing. There is a renewal in your health, but it is still not all the way there.
Renewal & misunderstanding
Ginny, by this fourth chapter, is on the mend. Her bleak day was December 23rd, but fortunately for her she crossed paths with a “blue” sky and since has been transforming. In this chapter she and Blue have a fine Christmas day doing regular, non-Christmas things. They go bowling and watch some movies. Right in the middle of their happiness, though, sister Becky calls, learns of Blue’s existence and her stereotypes flared. Some odd things rose up between Ginny and Becky. Becky’s situation and prejudices prevent her from seeing what is really happening in Ginny’s life. All Becky and her husband hear is: homeless boy living with Ginny. Nothing but Uh-oh for them.
Sister & Co. are firmly convinced that Ginny is going off the rails, but in reality she is far from that. Truth be told she is really coming into her own. Her reality may in fact be the best that it has been in years. Blue’s presence is acting as a ballast keeping her righted and giving her purpose. We get to see her put in motion things that will really advantage Blue. That helps her move away from the dark things which had pinned her down. She works through suspicion and prejudice. She does not set aside the life that she is fulfilled by, but continues to aim in that same direction. Now she is just able to do it in New York City as well as in danger zones around the world.
Well-meaning family members may miss your bigger picture
Becky and Alan are not “anti-Ginny.” They are decidedly “pro-Ginny” having walked by her and supported her as she crawled through the aftermath of the terrible pre-Christmas Eve accident. Becky’s family and Ginny’s family had been in lock-step with the American Dream, but one dream shattered. As Ginny tiptoed through the broken glass of what her life had been she wandered off into a pattern of living inconceivable to Becky and Alan. In truth it would have been just as inconceivable to Ginny at one point in her life, but she was changed by it. Life as she has taken it on has left its mark.
When this book started the wound of her loss had not been healed. She returned from overseas and things become very dark. So dark, in fact, that she drew near unto suicide. She was rescued though and the life-shape she had set in motion overseas found its first American outlet in New York City.
The problem was that the well-meaning family members in California were not able to see the beautiful Blue situation rising in Manhattan. Becky and Alan are convinced that Ginny is insane. They make statements, extreme in some manner but stated nonetheless, that she should be locked up. They figure she will be killed.
These things, at least in regard to Blue, could not be farther from the truth. Ginny is healing and those healing events began through her activities overseas in battle zones and refugee situations. Risky, yes, but transformative in some manner anyway.
There clearly come times in relationships family or otherwise where different views of things seem almost irreconcilable. I don’t propose to give an answer, but it can be instructive to know differences can be present. A lot of wisdom it takes to keep calm in the midst of things that collide like this. If a novel like this can help to uncover potential collisions it can certainly be useful.
When you care for others you can see their baggage
Blue is damaged, that is clear. In this fourth chapter we learn more of the issues that Blue has. By this stage we know he has issues with shelters. We see in this chapter that schools, churches, and priests are part of this list. He even had an issue with Ginny initially not believing that she could do what she does for no reason.
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