The other day on Facebook a friend of mine reminded me of one of our greatest privileges and one of my greatest pleasures - reading. Sometimes we take so much for granted and yet it is the simple pleasures in life, like reading a book, that bring us the most joy. As a child, books were my way of escaping into a world other than my own. With each book I became a new character, I absorbed their surroundings, their personalities and their quests. I was always so sad when the book was over because I wanted to know what came next. The characters lived beyond the book but I couldn't see what happened. I loved series because the characters lived on and on. As I grew older I could imagine their lives beyond the book, I could give them all happily ever after endings. I always wanted a happily ever after ending.
Then as I grew older I learned that I could use reading for other things as well ... knowledge. I could learn about anything I wanted to know. I could research anything I wanted to know more about. It was exciting. I could cross reference. It was like a whole new world had opened up to me. Yes, they should have taught us this in school but it was different. They never really taught you ... how, or maybe there was just never a subject interesting enough to make me want to learn to research. Once there was, I learned. I also learned college was different than high school, in college they wanted you to speak out, they wanted to know how your mind worked. It wasn't sit down and shut up. I loved college. I excelled in college.
My grandmother had a 6th grade education and then she had to quit school because she was needed at home to raise her younger siblings. Life was hard for her but she never stopped reading. She was the mother of twelve, nine boys and three girls. When I was a little girl and would spend the night with her the next morning she would get up and make her bed, make breakfast and after she would clear away the table and we would do the dishes she would read her bible. One morning I remember asking her if she ever read anything else and she said, yes she had read many other books but the bible was her favorite book and she read it over and over again because it had so many different stories in it. She had a 6th grade education and read the King James version of the bible and had read it through many many times, that's a hard book to get through once! Grandma was my idol and the sweetest woman that ever walked this earth and she too found comfort in reading.
When I was pregnant with my daughter I would sit in the rocking chair and read fairy tales to her and rub my hand over my belly. When I was pregnant with my son I would sit with my daughter and read to them both, sometimes she would read to him. Like me, she began reading at a very early age. When the kids were in grade school one winter, Gary and I read The Hobbit series to them each evening before bedtime. We would sit in the living room in front of the fireplace and read a chapter each evening. The kids loved it.
Rachel was almost six years older than Rob. She was the best 'big sister' any boy could want. Rob's favorite book when he was not much older than a toddler was Little Rabbit Foo Foo. She would read this book to him over and over and over again. So much so than he would say it in his sleep. She read to him all the time and had so much patience with him. She loved to read and he just loved his sister!
As the kids grew, Rachel used to write plays with some input from Rob. She was probably closer to ten and he was around four. We would take our lunch outside and eat and they would put on their plays for me. More than likely Rachel taught Robbie to read. We encouraged their imaginations and loved everything they came up with. It was an amazing journey being parents to these two.
Reading expands minds. I'm always saddened when I hear a friend tell me that they don't read or that reading bores them. Reading has been such a huge part of my life and as I stated earlier, one I take for granted most of the time. The ability to read should be a right for everyone, it isn't but it should be.
No comments:
Post a Comment