The One in A Million Boy by Monica Wood

 Who has never made a serious mistake that they have regretted for much of their life?  This lovely read by Monica Woods brings us several characters who are living with just such regrets.

Ona Vitkus at age 104 years, lives independently in her cozy little home, but realizes that she needs a bit of help in maintaining the outside tasks.  The kind scoutmaster in town, with a community program for his scouts, drops off a young boy to assist Ona.  A One in a Million Boy.  A quiet boy. A boy who makes lists and relentlessly counts.  A responsible boy who finishes his weekly tasks. A boy who is wise beyond his years.  A boy who recognizes Ona's loneliness and determines to give her purpose.  A boy who records Ona's long history and uncovers secrets and shame.  A boy whom Ona begins to love as they develop an unusual friendship.

Quinn Porter, the boy's much absent musician father, steps in to assist Ona with her yard chores.  Ona doesn't understand why.  At first she believes she was mistaken about this sweet boy..did he decide to shirk his duties?  Did he become enamored of another task to pursue?  Did their friendship not mean as much to him as it did to her?  When Ona reads the obituary in the local paper, her questions stop...and a new friendship with Quinn begins.  he works tirelessly in repairing Ona's home; beautifying flowerbeds, cutting tree limbs, fixing the broken porch, replacing lightbulbs.  He works to complete the boy's agreement contract with Ona.  He works to assuage his guilt over spending more time on the road than in his home.                                  Belle Cosgrove, the boy's distraught and grieving mother, also enters into a relationship with Ona because Quinn suggests that in entering Ona's home he senses the boy's presence...and oh how Belle needs to feel that.  Unlike Quinn's rocky start with Ona (he had to get past her prickly exterior), Belle and Ona bond more quickly, their commonalities as women and mothers who had each lost a son being foundational to this fledging friendship.

This trio of characters embarks on a journey together.  This journey involves a road trip to re-unite Ona with her son, but more importantly this journey of friendship begins to heal the broken places in each of their hearts.  Belle, brokenhearted over her only son's death; Ona, brokenhearted over the lost years of a damaged friendship; and Quinn, brokenhearted over the loss of his marriage, his career dreams and the truthful reality that he was not a good father.

Wood weaves a story rich with quirky, imperfect people who learn how to lean into each other.  Though they might not acknowledge or understand it, each bridges their individual loneliness to serve the other, to accept the other, to put the others' needs ahead of their own. It's a story of redemptions.

The final chapter backtracks to the boy's final morning, riding his bike in the pre-dawn to put the finishing touches on Ona's memoirs...the sounds of hundreds of birds breaking forth in song.  The selfless heart of the One in a Million Boy wanted to fulfill this important Ode to Ona.