Since You've Been Gone Book Club: Guest Blogger SS Senior Book Club Member

With the book club, I read a book called Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson where a girl named Emily suddenly loses her best friend, Sloane, without a trace. The only trace left of Sloane is a list that arrives in the mail. Well, with an awesome librarian like Mrs. Hutto I knew we would have an interesting activity coinciding with this book. 

When I received a letter in the mail on the first Saturday of Spring Break I squealed because...well letters are a dying art, but when I noticed it was from school I was pretty sure it was a list like Emily got! When I opened up the letter I saw ten items on a list.

On my first look through I was brainstorming, “Hummus. Hmmm...that means trying a new food. I have to pick ONE favorite outfit??? Huh, my mom’s name is Jamie. I love cooking! Who will I write to? Exactly how far away is far away? Hmmm, so way later than 9...9:15?”

The easiest item on the list seemed like taking a selfie with my best friend, then I asked myself, “Can my dog count as my best friend? Because if not there is no way I can choose between my two human best friends.” I decided that I would go take a selfie with Goose, my dog, because she is definitely my best,best friend. So I completed 2. Take a selfie with your best friend. While she and I took a walk we took the selfie, and Goose had a photo session. 

When I got back to the house I wrote out a game plan and 4. Hug a Jamie was up next. I had to wait to the following day to complete this, because my Momma was in Mountain View with her best friends. The resulting picture is more of a personality picture than a true hugging picture. I say this because the picture is out of focus. A behind the scenes note is that this picture was taken on self timer mode and my Momma and I had to scrunch down so our faces would be in this picture because I just had the camera sat on my dresser. 

Then it was on to the next item on the list. I adore cooking, so the next item was 5. Cook for someone you love. I skipped over Monday and did not do an item on the list, but I cooked tacos for my parents on Taco Tuesday. When I was younger my family and I had tacos every Tuesday, but as I have gotten older and more places to be with my clubs and activities we have stopped having this meal as much so this meal was truly a meal cooked out of memories and love for people I love. 

After cooking I decided to stick to the food items on the list involving food, that meant 1. Try Hummus. When I saw this on the list I was really unsure about it, but when my mom read it she was excited because she thought I would like hummus. She was wrong, I loved it! 

Before I tried hummus on Wednesday I did do something in between cooking and trying the hummus. That item on the list was 10. Stay up way past your bedtime. I am a girl who adores her beauty sleep so this was very painful for me. To stay awake till 1 A.M. I used many different tactics, such as talking to my Mom until she went to bed, texting one of my human best friends, watching I Love Lucy, and doodling. Finally at 1 I felt like I had stayed up way past my bedtime, so I went to bed and let sleep encompass me. 

Then came Thursday, a day that promised to be busy. First on my list that day was 9. Perform a random act of kindness. My random act of kindness was to take do-nuts to the workers at the nursing home in Greenbrier. I suggest everyone make it a weekly habit to do some random act of kindness, for the sole reason of how fulfilling it is. I felt so amazing after taking these in, I could tell some of the workers were having rough days so it made me feel amazing to see them light up when I said I brought those by for them to have that morning. That feeling still hasn't left me almost a week later. 

After I did this, during the kindness too, I finished 3. Wear your favorite outfit. My favorite outfit is a shirt from Cato that is flowy with black horizontal stripes across a gray shirt. In the middle of this shirt there is a Paris scene and at the top it says Paris in black rhinestones. This is worn with jeggings from Maurice's and gold flats from Old Navy. I wore this to the nursing home, Best Buy, Shoe Carnival, and the Conway movie theatre where I saw Zootopia with the ladies from my mom's side of the family. 

After I got home from this I started work on 7. Sew something. I started sewing a cute little bag for my window sill that now holds my favorite perfume and a couple of different lotions. 

But before I finished this on Friday morning first I finished 6. Do yoga. Yoga is an amazing stress reliever for me, I focus more on getting the poses exactly right instead of all the things on my to-do list or my worries. This just gave me more incentive to do yoga over the break. In the picture I am trying a new pose...and you can see it didn’t work out exactly the way I wanted it to. 

Finally! Only one item left, but the most stressful item. I decided to write a letter to each of my two cousins in Texas. Writing letters to them was stressful because I wanted the letters to be perfect. On Saturday I finally finished writing the letters, even though I did not get them sent until Monday morning I count this item finished on Saturday because I finished writing the letters and had them in the envelopes with stamps on them.

My final thought at the end of the list: major fulfillment. I had such a good time working on this list, and it kept me in touch with my friends even more so than I would have normally been because I would ask their opinion about different list numbers. I would totally be open to getting another list in the mail from Mrs. Hutto...she put some awesome things on here! Since You’ve Been Gone is the best stand alone book I have read in such a long time, and I would totally suggest that everyone read this book.

Written by Jessie

(Many thanks to our guest blogger South Side Senior and Book Club member Jessie. I appreciate your enthusiasm and love of reading more than you'll ever know.  ---Mrs. Hutto)