Life on the Refrigerator Door

¡Hola a todos! I hope your holidays have been filled with much merriment and a smorgasbord of food and books. I’m having a satisfying break myself.

I did get several books over the past week, and I’ll come around to reading them soon enough. This post, however, is reserved for Alice Kuipers’ “Life on the Refrigerator Door”. A very quick read, the story is told from the Post-It exchanges of a mother and daughter on (obviously) the refrigerator door.

Claire is your typical 15-year-old, going through the normal teenage girl’s concerns. What is perhaps rather unusual in her situation as compared to the average 15-year-old is that her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. “Life on the Refrigerator Door” provides us with a glimpse of the ups and downs of a mother-daughter relationship as they both deal with the Big C in their lives.

I hold this book precious as well, because it does reflect a big part of my life. I may be over the teenage issues, but I can definitely relate with having to deal with cancer, since my mom is also battling it. While it took me 30 minutes to finish the book, I found myself tearing up at certain pages (as if time seems to move more slowly), largely because the characters’ mirror real-life thoughts and emotions. This note, in particular, hit home:

Thank you, Alice Kuipers, for such a gem. The book may not win such accolades, but I know that it can mean a lot to anyone who is or has ever been in the same situation.

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I decided to write about the book amidst the merriment of the holidays. After all, Christmas is about faith, hope, and love. And for us daughters who are helping their mothers fight cancer, life is largely about such.

I hope 2011 rings in a better year for us all. 🙂