Tangerine Stories
When I was in grade school, every Saturday throughout the summer, my mother would drop me off at the Public Library when it opened in the morning. I would browse books, checking out as many as I could carry. I’d trek across the park to nestle against the base of the Civil War cannon and read voraciously until it was time for the matinee at the Pix Theater. Two cartoons, a news reel, two features for ten cents. Money too for a small soda and popcorn. I sat in the dark by myself in a child-filled theater for hours mesmerized.
When the cinema ended, I hiked a block back to the park and read by the cannon listening to my stomach growl until my mom came to pick me up. This continued for a couple years until we moved to a different city. But here’s the important part of this chunk of my story: what was I reading that so captivated me for hours and days and weeks? Almost exclusively, It was biographies!
There was a section some of my peers may recall in their own libraries. It was rows and rows of plain covered TANGERINE ORANGE BOOKS all titled with the names of famous people: Betsy Ross, Juliette Low, Clara Barton, Madame Curie. There were men too, and I read those as well. But it was the women’s stories that captivated me! They helped me imagine a life of passion and service and goodness.
Perhaps you’ve read these same little orange books? I know you studied some of these women in History class. Their stories of courage and their journeys of greatness awed me as a young girl. But as an old woman now, I can confirm without reservation that Clara, Betsy, and all the rest are just like you and me. They had values, imagination, and a destiny, just like us.
And although I no longer read biographies very often, I love to visit with interesting friends - to hear about their struggles with soul-deep issues that transform them. It is such a privilege to open our hearts to each other. As an adult, they inspire me even more than those little orange books did.
I had lunch with one of these epic women yesterday and we shared dreams of service and purpose and gratitude. She brought me a gift because she is loving and generous. It was this beautiful tangerine orange purse. She said it was MY color for sure.
I didn’t put this all together until later when I hung the purse on the peg in my foyier, just like I would hang my book bag on the pegs in the Public Library. The amazing women, the stories of struggle and growth, the brilliant orange.
Tucked inside that little tangerine orange tote was a novel about an amazing woman - a gift within a gift from an amazing woman. It is pure joy to share this wonderment with a friend.