Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend The Secret Garden musical at BYU. It was a wonderful performance (the vocalists there are always stellar) but it was even more nostalgic than I had anticipated and led me to some new personal epiphanies.
I was very young when I first read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (and also The Little Princess which has similar themes); we're talking 2nd or 3rd grade. But I had not quite recognized how formative it had been until yesterday when I realized that most of the things I love are major themes of the story of The Secret Garden. I was first introduced to the culture and spirituality of India in these books and my husband actually proposed to me by asking how I would feel about going to India (and we did go there; we backpacked all over the country with our 6th month old strapped to my front for 4 months in early 2000). I would guess that my Anglophilia also started with this book--the quaintness and foreigness of afternoon tea, British manors, and the Yorkshire accent were all new ideas to a little girl in the American suburbs of the 1980s. A love of plants and gardening and the outdoors (I still hope to have a walled garden someday) are other things I share with Mary and Dickon. Even my parenting style may have been influenced by this book as I fully agree with the quote that the, "two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way, or always to have it." The clear message of the story is that if you nurture both plans and humans, they will grow in the most beautiful and unexpected ways. As Dickon sings in the musical, "And all through the darkest nightime It's waiting for the right time When a thing is wick, it will grow!" Here's hoping that this bookshop idea is wick and will continue to grow and grow to spread stories and literature and build community in Sanpete County. |
AuthorJust me, Serenity. Owner of The CuriosiTea Bookshop. Avid reader and lover of great books, great ideas, great food, great people and cozy cups of tea. ArchivesCategories |