A Novel Idea

I have another idea for a novel. How about a story about a 42-year-old Mennonite minister’s wife who gets tired of feeling like she has to be all things to all people and…well, should she leave or resign or what?

I got started thinking about this when I read a book from the library about a 40-year-old woman with three snotty teenagers and a doctor husband who was at the beach with her family and without really thinking it through she took a walk down the beach and walked away from her life and went and started another life in another town. Of course, she soon replicated her former life as she took in a stray cat and then befriended a single mom and then took care of a boy whose mom left him and finally she had all the necessary epiphanies and ended up back with her husband.

Well, heaven forbid that I do anything like that but I think we all have our fantasies of escape when life gets stressful, like the bride that took off recently just before her wedding.

I think in my novel the leading character should leave her busy life to maybe go take care of her aging parents for a couple of months and there she will have all kinds of adventure and solve a mystery or two and have a great relaxing time and meet her old crush from high school and be relieved she didn’t marry him.

Meanwhile, back home, everyone will of course have all these disasters because the mom isn’t there to prevent or solve them.

Then she’ll come home ready to have her old life back again but lo, nothing will be the same. Her family will fall all over themselves offering to cook and do laundry, certain people in church will realize that they should actually do something about problems they observe rather than expecting the minister or his wife to solve them, her husband will appreciate her with unwavering devotion expressed by serving tea in bed every morning, and all the people in her life who talk too much will take up journal-keeping instead.

As I said, this would be a work of fiction.

I’m open to ideas for the title and further story lines.

Quote of the Day:
"Chad’s cuter than he is!"
--Amy, affirming that Aunt Margaret married the right guy, when she found out that a man she recently met was one of Margaret’s former beaux