Two Books

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Cecelia Rose Honeycutt's life changed the week her mother died. For 12 years as her mother's mind slipped back to her
time of glory as the Vedalia Onion Queen of 1951, CeeCee had become almost totally isolated. She had no friends. How could she when her mother would go to the Goodwill and buy every prom dress and then dress up in one and stand out in the front of their house and blow kisses to those passing by.
Her father could not deal with any of this and so spent less and less time at home. Her only friend was an elderly widow next door.

After her mother's death, her great aunt Tootee appears and whisks her off to Savannah and a new chapter in her life.



At the same time, I started reading The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry. Dr. Perry helped change the image of children as ever resilient and able to overcome any abuse in the early years by showing that the human brain needs love, caring and stability to grow normally. Abused children often have high heart rates because they are hyper vigilent to the circumstances around them. Without love one cannot learn empathy and loving kindness. There are a series of children who early lives he describes including the boy raised in a dog crate. He was left with someone who had no idea how to raise children, just dogs. The story of the 21 children released by the Branch Davidians before the conflagration was so very sad.

What he said though reflected the lucky circumstances that CeeCee fell into, is that much early abuse can be overcome through the presence of a caring and loving adult in a young child's life.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is just a fun read, but having read Dr. Perry's book at the same time, gave it greater weight.

Eliza