The Matureness of Ellen

As a child, have you ever had to buy your own Christmas presents, wrap them and then wake up the next morning to be excited for gifts you already knew about? I for sure know that I have never done this, and when I was young I am pretty sure that I would not have been mature enough to do this. This amazed me, that she was able to do this and handle this. Most children that we can think of, believe in Santa and know that Santa is going to bring them whatever they want for Christmas. Eventually in Ellen's life she went to live with her aunt Nadine and cousin Dora. It came time for Christmas and Ellen was asked what she wanted for Christmas. What she asked for, was all she got! Santa did not bring her surprises or anything special, as Dora said would happen. She simply got a pack of white painting paper. As a young girl Ellen already knew that there was no Santa, and she knew that being mature was important to enjoy Christmas. This is just one thing that Ellen did that amazes me.

Ellen, unlike many children was very, very mature with everything that she had to deal with. At a young age Ellen was faced with a sick mother and a father that did not care, but rather was worried about drinking booze. Ellen experienced three people in her life dying. She was laying with her mother, when her mother died. The county had finally stepped in before her father died, but he was found dead in the house. And her mama's mama died before Ellen's eyes while she was taking care of her. Ellen dealt with making sure the money that was given to her and her father was used for important things such as having food in the house, water, heat, and energy working in the house. Even though Ellen worked through all of this, she had a friend that is of color, but her friends family was very good to her.

Starletta was a younger girl than Ellen, Starletta, Starletta's mom and father lived together in a one room house with the bathroom outside and worked in the fields all day. They were a black family, but this did not bother Ellen to much. She always felt that she couldn't eat after them, or sleep in their beds, or use their bathroom, but over time this changed. At the end of the book Ellen made it clear to all the kids at school that she was Starletta's friend and that it was okay that they were friends.

This book was very interesting to me and I am glad that i read it again. I am pretty sure that I have read it before, but I am also sure that I did not catch some importance that I caught this time of reading it. The author wanted to make sure that it was clearly expressed to the reader all the struggles that Ellen went through but how relaxed she stayed. She knew she needed to get out, and she found a way. But Ellen always knew that she had a true friend that would always be there for her. Starletta was someone that enjoyed hanging out with Ellen and sharing stories that they faced every single day. Starletta was not as lucky as Ellen, but she knew that she had a good momma and father. That is what was important to Starletta. Starletta was a special friend to Ellen, and I hope everyone got the impression that I got from the author sharing with us that no matter color two people can be true friends.

Ellen just amazes me. I do not even think that I can express how Ellen makes me feel through words in this blog. I am amazed that family members of Ellen did not see how strong this girl was. How important it was to her that she was independent. That she dealt with death, three times, while by herself. Ellen just amazes me.

Love and secrets

So in my journals I talked a lot about emotion, and how the book made me feel. So starting this journal out that makes me have the emotion of love and relationships. On page 67, at the top the bees of the world quote, "Honeybees are social insects and live in colonies. Each colony is a family unit, comprising a single, egg-laying female or green and her many sterile daughters called workers. The workers cooperate in the food-gathering, nest building and rearing the offspring. Males are reared only at the times of year when their presence is required."

This quote really begins how one simple emotion can be spread out in many different ways, and I really enjoyed how this book could do that for me. Continuing on through the book and the emotion of love is expressed on page 83, with the honey song that May taught Lily.

Place a beehive on my grave, and let the honey soak through.

When I;m dead and gone, that's what I want from you.

The streets of heaven are gold, and sunny but I'll stick with my plot and a pot of honey.

Place a beehive on my grave and let the honey soak through.

I believe that May shared this song with Lily because she was accepting her as part of the family and this is true love.

Love can be expressed in so many ways, that it is not even possible to demonstrate all the ways that I saw it in this book, but I am going to share a few that really hit home for me. These next two are more in the relationship category between a boy and girl. No matter the age of two people and any other issue, love can hold them together and pull them through any problem.

On page 116, Lily simply thought to herself, "If he was shocked over me being white, I was shocked over him being so handsome". This was something that has happened and can happen anytime with any situation, but I liked how the author stated Lily realized that he was shocked and then that she was shocked. As Lily and Zach began to not see each other as much, they had a conversation that sent chills down my spine.

"You are one-third my friend, one-third brother, one-third bee partner, and one-third boyfriend." They continued in conversation and then Zach said, "We can't think about changing out skin, we have to think about changing the world, thats how we gotta think".

This conversation made me realize that the author of the book, was trying to express that there is so many things in this world that make things a challenge and an obstacle. I really like how the interaction of the two main characters were able to express this obstacle so sweetly in the middle of the book and maybe not even be said plain. But be said in an almost juicy way.

Lily had a goal with her whole life, and even though I do not think she knew what it was, it was in her gut. Her goal in her life was to find out about her mother, and why she felt such a lost from her. Lily always wanted her mother to send a sign down to her telling her what to do, and finally toward the end of the book (which of course when it should happen) the sign was shared. All it simply was, was a sign that she was loved by her mother. This may not seem like much, but to Lily it was a huge sign.

And lastly as I finish up my blog I would like to pull a sentence out of the middle of page 148. Bees have a secret life we don't know anything about. Even though this is true, it also is true that there were stories inside stories that were remembered and shared as the bees were seen. At August's where there were bee stories, there was also so much more that came out. This I think is where the title comes from.