My wife handed me "Britney Spears" book "The Woman in Me"

I had not asked for this book but for some reason my wife had bought this book and handed it to me without warning.

What surprised me most about her first few pages in this book was her sincerity. Sincerity I highly value and always have (even though in my 30s I realized that many people are sincere but aren't really right or sane. This made me change how I viewed sincerity and realized that I had to learn discernment around "Sincere" people because often what they are sincere about is not valid or useful or intelligent or logical.

However, at face value what Britney Spears said in the first few pages reminded me of my own upbringing in the 1950s and early 1960s even though she is much younger than me. This is likely because she was raised in the South which often still has values like I was raised with in the 1950s. 

Here are some short quotes that I found really useful and revealing and that rang true with me too as I read them. Except for the part about her father being an alcoholic and her parents constantly arguing and her not allowed to say anything about anything to them, I felt like she was talking about what life was like growing up in the 1950s in Southern California in the Los Angeles and San Diego Areas for me:

Here is a quote starting with the Prologue

Begin partial quote:

"As a little Girl I walked for hours alone in the silent woods behind my house in Louisiana, singing songs. Being outside gave me a sense of aliveness and danger. When I was growing up, my mother and father fought constantly. He was an alcoholic. I was usually scared in my home. Outside wasn't necessarily heaven, either, but it was my world. Call it heaven or hell, it was mine. 

Before going home, I would follow a path to our neighbor's house, through a landscaped yard and past a swimming pool. They had a rock garden full of small, soft pebbles that would trap the heat and stay warm in a way that felt so good against my skin. I would lie down on those rocks and look up at the sky, feeling the warmth from below and above, thinking: "I can make my own way in life. I can make my dreams come true."

Lying quietly on those rocks, I felt God."

Chapter 1 page 3.

"Raising kids in the South used to be more about respecting your parents and keeping your mouth shut. (Today the rules have reversed--it's more about respecting the kids.) Disagreeing with a parent was never permitted in my house. No matter how bad it got, there was an understanding to stay mute, and if I didn't there were consequences.

In the Bible it says your tongue is your sword. 

My tongue and my sword were singing.

My whole childhood I sang. I sang along with the car radio on the way to dance class. I sang when I was sad. To me, Singing was Spritual.

End partial quote from Britney Spears book "The Woman in me."

I was really amazed at how much her experiences mirrored my own. My only solace often in life as an only child was to get on my bicycle from age 5 on and leave the home and ride my bicycle for miles and miles alone or with my friends.

Though someone might try to stop me and beat me up usually I could pedal faster than they could catch me. There was a term for this called "Turf" then which meant that you could beat up people not living on your block or area. Parents usually didn't stop this either unless someone was killing you and sometimes not even then.

So, you were usually safer on your own street or block. But, the usually made exceptions for newspaper boys like I was at age 10. I remember a big black dog chasing after me one day and it got a hold of my right pantleg and wouldn't let go as I rode my newspapers on the steering handles of my bike. I knew that he was going to get me injured or worse kill me so I knew I had to kick him as hard as I could in the mouth with my right heel so I did. But, the alternative would have been worse. It was him or me that was going to survive right then and I knew it because this was a big dog and I was in his families turf and he wasn't likely to let me live if I fell and hurt myself that day.

So, what she wrote so much reminded me of my own childhood in the 1950s that I had to share this with you today. Amazing words!