Things change

It’s interesting - I’ve been reading a bit of young adult books lately. And one thing they often reference is that confusion that afflicts teenagers as they grow and change and aren’t entirely sure where they fit into their world.

I’m not sure that we lose that feeling at any age.

I am change averse. I have told you this before. I do not like it. I laugh at myself about it, but I really get annoyed when the supermarket moves the tomato paste for the third time in a year for no obvious reason and I can’t find it. Maybe I just hate grocery shopping and if I spend minutes longer trying to find the stuff… yeah - it’s annoying.

I’ve been through some dramatic personal changes in my life. I used to be a world traveller who lived in a foreign land in an enormous house with servants and personal drivers. In Australia we bought a house commensurate with that income level. It was a very nice house. We entertained a bit; it was a great house for that. People played tennis on our lawn court, swam in our enormous pool and used our sauna. They came to stay for weekends, organised the soccer team party at that house etc.

Things change.

Post-divorce my income level and thus the kids’ and my standard of living dropped pretty dramatically. I stayed in the same area so that my kids didn’t have too much change in their lives. They can go to the same schools and they didn’t move away from their friends. But it is an affluent area and we no longer are. We moved house. To a much smaller house, right on the edge of the affluent suburb. We get the suburb name but not the tennis court or the pool.

And interestingly, the people who wanted to be my friend when I had that big house aren’t around any more. Sycophants - much?

But I forget that, sometimes. I ran into one the other day at the barbers and I was genuinely pleased to see her. She tolerated talking to me but kept flicking through her magazine as if I would get the hint and go away. For just a second, I felt about as lost as a teenager does when they get into a situation they don’t understand.

I know I wasn’t at my best. I had walked down to the shops with my sons and I was wearing an old tracksuit and a pair of runners. I hadn’t spent hundreds of dollars on my hair or nails like she had. But still… I had thought we were at least on a talking basis.

I’m no teen and it still hurt.

Messages that stay

I often read that writers should write for themselves or imagine the one fan that they are writing for. I think this is especially true with Young Adult books. They reach people at a perfect age, when they are learning and absorbing messages that they will carry as adults.

I saw a story this week about a fan letter an author received ten years after her unpublished manuscript was sent to a girl by a librarian. It was truly heart-warming and the story had a great and positive influence on that small girl. Power to small girls with glasses!**

I was talking to my son in the car after piano lessons. He is truly talented but doesn’t practise enough (constant cry of all mothers everywhere). He needs to strengthen his wrists. I don’t know why, but a story I had read as a child popped into my head.

I remembered the character’s name - Pennington, and I recalled that he was physically large, angry, and violent and had been in trouble with the police until a teacher who cared, got him into piano. He played it like Beethoven; smashing keys until his fingers bled. Playing piano was definitely not ‘gay’ (ugh - hate that insult) and he still played sports. He defended his piano playing with his fists.

The story was set in England. I also remembered another scene where his father (I think) defended a doctor at the hospital from a racist bigot. He said something like the public hospital system would fail without doctors like him from India and Pakistan, working long hours for less pay; doing the jobs that the English turned their noses up at.

When I got home, I looked up the Net and found the book was called ‘Pennington’s seventeenth summer’ and was written by K.M.Peyton. She of the Flambards TV show fame. I wasn’t into ponies or horses so I don’t think I absorbed any messages from those books.

Wikipedia says  there were four books in the series. I know I have read the first two. They are out of print now, but I will keep an eye out for them.

·       Pennington's Seventeenth Summer (1970), later as Pennington's Last Term, illustrated by Peyton

·       The Beethoven Medal (1971), a.k.a. If I Ever Marry, illus. Peyton

·       Pennington's Heir (1973), illus. Peyton

·       Marion's Angels (1979), later as Falling Angels, illus. Robert Mickelwright

I don’t know if I have recalled the two scenes correctly, but I do know that what they said has stayed with me. A message of inclusion and anti-racism that has stuck with me for my adult life and I must have been about ten years old.

That’s how powerful words can be.

~~~~~ 

**The Best Author Letter Ever by ElizabethBluemle