Gravel Road Musings

  Mother's Day.  Two simple words that I am sure invoke images of something for everyone of you. There are things that we expect on Mother's Day. We expect flowers or some form of gift. We expect all our chores to be done. We expect the Internet to explode with mother and children pictures, all dressed nicely and all smiling happily. That's the happy expectations of Mother's Day. But for others, Mother's Day is no different from any other day-nobody notices the sacrifices they make every day. Nobody acknowledges their sleepless night and long days. Nobody seemingly cares about them as a mom. And then there are still others for whom Mother's Day invokes sadness. On this day, they are once again reminded that their arms are empty or their children have walked away from their love or there is some other reminder of pain on that day. Mother's Day has meant numerous things to me through the years. Eight years ago, Mother's Day was more of a hidden grief known

  Miriam, Moses and Aaron's sister. How much more than that do we really know about her? There are few references here and there: she led the singing after crossing the Red Sea, she was made a leper for a couple weeks for complaining about Moses, and not much more info than that is given. Jill takes this information and ad libs a story about Miriam, gives her a husband, children, and a life. Interspersed throughout are glimpses into Moses' life and also Zipporah's. Most is based on fiction and what Jill supposed to have happened.  I'm not a huge fan of Biblical fiction, but Jill does tell a good story and so I keep reading her books. I'm not sure what I'll do when the next book comes out though. While I enjoyed the story of Miriam, it took me awhile to get through it. That is no fault of the author's, it is simply not quite my genre of choice. I do like one thing Jill said in the "Note to the Reader" at the end of the book. "The thing this sto