KJ Hannah Greenberg
Oblivious to the Obvious
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Oblivious to the Obvious:
Wishfully Mindful Parenting
French Creek Press. Israel.
March 2010. Buy it here.
"The first time I had the pleasure of reading KJ Hannah Greenberg's writing, I laughed, cried and nodded my head. She has a depth of insight into the mystical, magical and often maniacal world of parenting that makes you feel as if you have an ally along the seemingly unending hiccups and hilarity of family life.
This wonderful collection of writing is a treasure of wit, wisdom and storytelling at its best. It shows us that even when we think we know ourselves well, someone might actually know us even better ~ such is the common thread of our parenting lives. Immersion in the fabulous world of KJ Hannah Greenberg is like peering in an enchanted mirror: reflections are revelations.
Oblivious to the Obvious: Wishfully Mindful Parenting will stand the test of time as a gift of spirited writing that only a mindful mother could create."
Jeffrey Zaslow, successor to Ann Landers, and author or coauthor of three bestselling books, The Last Lecture, The Girls From Ames and Highest Duty, USA, writes:
"Hannah Greenberg has a gift for finding those parenting moments, big and small, that lead us to reflect, to reconsider, and to smile. With a great deal of heart, and plenty of humor, she writes about her family, and in doing so, leads us to embrace the best in ourselves and to appreciate the best in our own children."
Faster than a flying meatball let loose by an insolent hedgehog, more water soluble than a chimera released from its leash, and heavier than a grandmother who ate too many slices of eggplant, Oblivious to the Obvious: Wishfully Mindful Parenting breaks through the barriers of dime store strictures and invites all grownups to celebrate, to contemplate, and to gyrate in tempo with, the stresses and joys of being a caretaker of young ones.
From mountains of laundry to lizards left to roam among dirty dishes, Oblivious to the Obvious sets up house in the hallowed hindmost region of sleep deprived adults' minds. Junk mail, unrelentlessly chiming computers and incorrigible kittens are only a sample of the denizens populating this book.
This volume validates that it's insufficient: to debate whether or not a bug is user friendly before smashing it, to fail to discern between "guitars" and "basses," and to insist that service center technicians cease trying to rip off innocent matrons. Further, this read confirms that affable living includes: ceramics without teens, cell phones with muted ring tones, and quolls assigned social status.
If you seek a respite from battling traffic, from sweeping sand out of suitcases or from walk around the piles of dog poo left behind by your mindless neighbors, pick up a copy of this delightful collection and snicker a bit. Parenting will remain an imperfect art no matter how many babysitters you employ, how many relatives you encourage, or how many white hairs you sprout. Let Oblivious to the Obvious entice you to giggle, snort, or otherwise chortle your way through child rearing.
There is no strewn garbage so awful or bathroom flood so deep as to be irredeemable by a lens of a good-hearted narrative. Rather than resigning yourself to sighing and moaning, join with the growing population of adults who accept that time tables, polite children and clean closets are entirely absurd.
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Credits
Dedication
Introduction: Parenting Writes Me
Writings
I. Exploring the Seesaw Side
1. I Smile as I Drift to Sleep
2. Couch Creatures, Laundry, and Crafts Materials
3. Junk Mail
4. Baseballs, Beach Balls and Furballs
5. Flicking
6. Just Keep Breathing
7. The Tintinnabulation
8. Mission Almost Possible
II. Negotiating with Hairy Beings
1. Something Furry
2. Negotiating with a Kitten
3. Diurnal, Nocturnal, and Crepuscular Family Members
4. Bad Little Things
5. Ambitious Wildlife
6. Of Lice and Women
7. To Beetle or Not to Beetle
8. Mama Quolls
9. Pets not to be Adopted
III. Harmony, Cacophony, and Other Familial Music
1. Toilet Seats, Piano Benches and Nursing Chairs: Mama's Moolah Madness
2. Small Mornings
3. Baseball Caps, Carbohydrates and Service Centers
4. Naught but Self-Care, Except in Most Good Marriages
5. Electric Guitars
6. Afar and Beyond: Another Time, Another Place
7. Parental Self-Fulfillment Matters, Sort Of
IV. World Views
1. Obscene Proliferations
2. Parenting Teens after the Advent of the Internet
3. Green Parenting
4. Nurturing While Acculturating
5. Under the Hood
6. No Economic Slowdown Needed for Sane Consumerism
7. Terrified
8. I Can Almost
V. Actualizing the Mommy Writer
1. Teen Scene Queen
2. Mama's Little Boy's Unwanted Opinion
3. The Ferocity of a Mommy Writer
4. Yes, I'm Shouting: Disengaging from Solipsisms
5. Verbal Ceramics without Teens
6. Creativity and the Frump
7. Fiction and Phobias
Conclusion: Abiding by Timetables and Other Absurd Mentations
Afterword
About the Author