Besides life itself my mother gave me a gift I can never thank her enough for, and that is the love of reading. I come from a long line of veracious readers. I still remember sitting on a stool in my mother's kitchen on "J" Street in Oregon as my mother and grandmother cooked by a large chalk board where my mother would tell me to write a letter or two. I would try to write words or stories and she would guide me along until finally by age 4 I could read quite well. I have always loved to read. I am an informational book reader. I see great value however in reading good novels. The novels that I do read I seem to always learn some kind of history from them. Just recently in my midwifery studies I read a book called The Red Tent. It takes place in Biblical times and is a loosely written historical novel. I learned a great deal about their culture and about plural marriage, and about midwifery. I also learned a lot about women of that day. It was wonderful.
Reading makes us more understanding of others. I am reading tons of things in my midwifery studies and another book I just read was called The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth. This book helped me personally over a difficult "bump in the road" we are having in our lives right now. As I read about the situation the English people were going through during WWII it made me more grateful for what I have, more thankful, so much more satisfied and humble. I also now see myself as more connected with other humans and this whole experience we are going through called Life. Reading does this to us, or it can.
I know life is so busy, I get that...I have a huge house full of people who need lots of things in lots of areas, but the one indulgence I allow myself is to read. Where do I read? Everywhere! I read in the car when I am waiting for Jake to get out of tap, at the ballet studio with Addy, I read in bed when I am retiring for the night, I read on the toilet (I know too much information), I read on the couch on Sundays when it is quiet, I read in the car when we are traveling. I read read read.
What do I read? Everything, and I am not kidding. I love all subjects that are uplifting and inspiring. I am not into dribble and silly stuff, but I love to read the scriptures, I love to read a great cookbook (My favorite reading actually!). I have learned so much about history from reading cookbooks. I own a ton of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks and one day I hope to write one of my own. I love to read informational books about anything. I also like to read on-line updated articles about politics and the latest on health and nutrition. I enjoy reading a good novel if it is not just fluff...but fluff has its place too.
This life is about joy and happiness and becoming better people and sharing a life that is rich and warm with our families. When I fell in love with Karl I fell in love with his brain. He is one of the smartest people I know and it is due mainly by his self education through personal reading. My husband reads all the time. He and I walk or ride bikes together each day and we always talk about exciting and interesting things we are learning. Oh, how reading had enriched my life!
While Karl is getting his Masters right now and I am getting my degree in Midwifery, we talk about education and administration and health and women's issues, this is where we are right now, but I know that we will not stop even once we both graduate (again). Next Karl wants to get his Doctorate degree and I want to become a licensed aromatherapists. Life just gets better and better and bigger and bigger when we study and read.
I have had children who have read later than I did, some much later. I did my share of worrying about this, but I learned a fun trick that helped me...the library has hundreds of books on tape. One of my boys who struggles with reading has listened to almost 75 full length chapter books this past school year. He loves all sorts of people who are fairies, trolls, and fourth graders causing trouble in school. I am amazed at his depth and his attention span now. He is a late reader, but he is being enriched by books and by learning. He will be fine. He is better than fine he is great because he can think deeply and I attribute much of this to his exposure to great thinkers in the books he listens to.
I am happy in large part due to the incredible gift my mother gave to me, and that is the love of books and reading. I have written three novels, and one parenting book, and I am working on a book for my children plus a cook-book. Books inspire me and make me love this life and my fellow human friends so much more. I thank you Momma for your love to me and sharing your love of reading. My mother is almost 70 and I talk to her every day and she shares with me still what she is learning and it is almost always due to her reading something.
Summer is a busy time, but so is fall, so is every time of year. Try as hard as you can to add reading to your list of happy, healthy living that you do each day. You will be blessed deeply, but more importantly you will enrich the lives of others by your knowledge when you share what you are learning. You will inspire the rest of us to become deeper better people. Grab a book and turn a page today even if it is only a page or two!
Happy Reading....and I would love to have you tell us what you are reading so we can all go read it too!
