Oh, the Places You Never Expected to Go

One of my favorite books as a child was Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, and right now John Lithgow is reading the Dr. Seuss classic to me via YouTube. “Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to great places! You’re off and away!” quickly morphs into “I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true, that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.” I don’t remember the book being so honest about how up and down life can be. Trippy colors, landscapes, that boy in the yellow and pink balloon doing whatever he wanted, yes, but winding up at “the waiting place” where you have to wait for buses, mail, and pots to boil? Well, that sounds a lot more like real life. Perhaps in my youth I spaced out on that big yellow and pink balloon and went on some deep space adventure, missing the true message of the book—life isn’t easy, but you can handle it.