Terry's 3M's

I've been trying to get some of the garage cleaned out this week. It's amazing how much stuff is out there. It's a three car garage with barely enough room to walk in...let alone put a car in it.

The reason why it is taking forever to clean it is because when Faye and Delton got married, they merged two households. A lot of the stuff got put into the garage. Faye has tons and tons of clothes. The reason why the garage hasn't been cleaned before this is that we've been waiting for Faye to sort through her stuff...boxes and boxes of clothes. Finally, I decided that if she hadn't missed those clothes in all this time...she isn't going to. So, I started sorting through stuff and boxing up clothes.

While I was doing this, I realized why Faye hasn't done the sorting herself. You see, Faye was once quite small. I think that the thought of seeing all those size 8-14's would have depressed her...and that she didn't want to put herself through that pain. So, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Goodwill Industries are going to get a lot of stuff in the next week.

The first time that I read the book, IT, was in 1987. The book was compelling and terrifying. There were lots of times when the killer clown (who turned out NOT to be a clown, after all) would use balloons to announce his presence. It was a long time before I could stand the sight of a clown or balloons...without thinking of the book. And for the first time ever, a book scared me so much that I slept with the closet light on for two weeks.

With all that said, I loved the book.

There was something terribly wrong in Derry. Something had been terribly wrong about the town for a very long time. Every 28 years, there would be a rash of disappearances...usually children. Often, they found the mutilated bodies of children shortly after their disappearance. After several months, a huge disaster--- resulting in many deaths would occur. Then the disappearances would stop...for another 28 years.

IT most often took of a clown. But, IT was a monster that could take the shape of anything that you fear. To the "clown", fear was to be used as a seasoning for it's food...in the same way you use salt.

But, during one of IT's feeding years, seven kids were drawn together. Lucky seven. Those seven pitted themselves against it--and won. So, they thought. Twenty-eight years later, they found out that they were wrong. They hadn't killed IT. IT had recovered and was terrorizing the town again. Could the lucky seven recapture the magic they had together as kids and take on IT again?

When IT makes it's reappearance in 1984, Mike Hanlon (one of the lucky seven) is writing a history of IT's appearances through the years and this history is also a journal of sorts. When he is absolutely sure that IT has come back, he makes phone calls to the other six childhood friends.

The book goes back and forth between 1956 and 1984 in the form of flashbacks that are written as if they occuring right before your eyes.

IT is a powerful book. And while I really enjoyed the mini-series and Tim Curry was marvelous as Pennywise the Clown, it wasn't nearly as frightening as the book. The book is Stephen King at his storytelling best.

How could this book that scared me so keep me sane? Right after my son was born, a friend brought a copy of IT to the hospital for me to read. For a few hours each day, I could lose myself in the story and stop weeping and worrying over my infant son. When I put the book down, I was calmer and more composed. I tried very hard not to weep in front of my son. When I touched or held him, I wanted him to feel love and strength flowing from me.

We are supposed to let go and let God do his work. This is much easier said than done. If we don't let go of the problem, God can't do His work. A crictically ill infant is a hard problem to let go. For a few hours a day, Stephen King allowed me let go.

Thanks to for the border background set.