Ladder of Years

I just finished Ladders of Years, by Anne Tyler, an author I love. I feel great loyalty to certain authors, and if busy years go by when I lose track of them, I do like to go back and catch up. This one was published in 1995, when I was busy with a five-year-old and a baby, but I'm glad to have read it now. The title phrase connects to this picture of life uttered by Nat, lovable grandfather of lovable Noah: "See, I've always pictured life as one of those ladders you find on playground sliding boards--a sort of ladder of years where you climb higher and higher, and then, oops!, you fall over the edge and others move up behind you."

Ladder of Years is the story of a woman who walks away from her life one day. I won't say more about that, as you'll want to read the book to find out how that turns out. I will say that I identified with her and have also walked away!--out the back door and around the block to blow off steam! Nearly literal steam...as the walkout was occasioned by fixing dinner (boiling water for rice, etc.) while two grown men in the dining room could not manage to keep the then two-year-old out of the dangerous kitchen. I kept him out, finished dinner preparation, and left it ready on the stove during my little escapade. Sigh.... (We're all still alive and love each other.)

Thanks to Vintage Johnstown for the Cambria City Playground sliding board. Thanks to Anne Tyler for being such a wonderful writer. And thanks to my family wamily for all the love, acceptance, forgiveness, and loyalty. It goes both ways.