I am reading a collection of essays by Barbara Kingsolver called Small Wonder... it is just what I needed.

It feels like waking up, after a long winter of dreariness, sickness and mindless reading of juvenile books it is sooo refreshing to read the words of a woman of strength and character, a strong woman with a voice, a woman that inspires me to be more of who I am and not get bogged down in my own mundaneness. Sometimes it is just hard to stay awake. I get to the point, often, where the world and all its too-big-for-me problems make me fall into despair and then the stage of just not caring. I shut everything out and go numb. Women like Ms. Kingsolver shake me, wake me, make me feel alive, make me want to care again.

It feels good to be awake.