Only about 10 years ago did I realize what an amazing gift it is to be able to open a book and read it..... comprehend it.... and even some (or many, in my case) to become "one" with.
That's not to say that all books I choose are easy reads for me.... I'm reading a church book right now that I absoulutely adore, even though it's a total bugger on my thought process and exhausts my brain to the point I just want to nap after a few pages. Still, I feel great comfort when I see it from across the room and a small thrill when I go to my marked page and begin my new learn.
I guess what I'm trying to say (though my 'flight of thought' is all over the place today) is that I will never take reading or books for granted. I still have the first book I ever read completely through with no help or guidance.....
I remember sitting next to my grandma, proudly turning the pages and making no mistakes, while she patiently and intently listened and through her loving smile encouraged me to keep on.
Forever after, books became everything to me.
My favorite place at school was the library..... it felt like the closest thing to home.... somewhere I felt happy and safe and totally in my own world.
And in the 4th grade my teacher, Mr. Oscarson, would let us choose from Plaster of Paris shaped animals if we read a certain amount of pages. The largest form was a big owl and you had to read 1000 pages to get it. I determined I would get every thing he offered and I was the first person in school to earn the owl. I couldn't wait to take it home and paint it!
I loved it when my mom would order a Time Life book series.... especially a cookbook series from dozens of countries around the world. She not only let me have international food nights where I'd spend all day cooking recipes from the books, but I'd read them and learn everything I could about these faraway places. Between this and our encyclopedia set, I could spend hours curled up with one book. I LOVED reading the encyclopedia. Just grab a letter and off I'd go for the afternoon.
When I became a teenager and learned to drive, if I just wanted to get away from everything I'd drive to Whitmore Library. I'd wander up and down the aisles pulling out books that looked interesting to me. And as I sit here typing the name, I realize I am smiling.... and maybe longing to go there next time I'm home.
And in the same moment, I also realize that I could drive to Eagle or Meridian or downtown Boise and walk into one of these buildings, overflowing with books, and feel just as settled.
I will always be grateful that I lived in a home where reading was encouraged, where getting new books for Christmas was better than anything else... and now, that Amazon has almost every book I could ever wish for at the click of a button and arrives at my door two days later.
As long as I have eyes to read and a book to hold in my hands I have the whole world. You can have very little in the way of worldly "things", but if you know how to read you really have everything.
