Read

One of my favourite things to do is read. I love to see and feel the words coming to life in my mind. Reading has always been an escape for me when I felt the world didn’t understand me. I was never judged in my books, I could always cheer for the under dog instead of being one. What a powerful experience that was! It made me feel invincible reading about the character Anne in Anne of Green Gables. All she experienced being an orphan and adopted by the first family who truly loved her for her extraordinary self. I related to Joe in the Little Women series with her spunk and go get them attitude. My life became better and more beautiful in the pages of my books. The adventures I took with Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys brought me great delight. I lived vicariously through their adventures, meeting their characters, and feeling fear and exhilaration as they battered their villains. The first time my beloved Mama read to me I felt such joy as her voice filled my mind, with her descriptive words and inflection in her tone. She had such a gift with words, she made books come to life for me. I remember when I was in Grade one and Mrs. Bossio gave me my first Dick and Jane book. It was like a part of my heart opened up and I fell in love with the written word. I read voraciously after that anything I could get my hands on. Books lead to series and series led to volumes of the encyclopedia. I was enthralled and I couldn’t get enough of anything in print. I started a collection of Archie comic books and I became one of the Riverdale gang. As well as I have always been able to read people as a gift, learning to read was a greater one. I knew I could do anything inside my books no anger, fear, worry, or loss could hold me back. My Mom saw my love grow more and more, so my book collection grew. She had said I was like her, and my Gram fed her habit with reading chapter books, poetry, and the classics like Dickens, Twain, and Shakespeare. I remember reading The Diary of Anne Frank. I saw the beauty and love of family as well as evil personified. I was so heartbroken when Anne didn’t survive the concentration camp. I also knew that was the outcome of war, and what a gift it has been that her words live on through her. With her belief in the power of love, strength, and forgiveness. Like my Gram did for my Mom, and my Mom did for her children, I’ve passed on the gift of reading to my children. My Captain will read chapter books like they’re going out of style. He loves the Diary of a Wimpy kid series and has recently started reading Captain Underpants. My Mad dog will bring me a basket of books each day, and will sit beside me and say Once upon a time and he’ll weave a story together of his own creation. I’ve started our Christmas gifts early this year as I’ve done the 25 days of reading. Each night my sons take turns and open one book to share. We cuddle up on the bed and my Captain and I take turns reading to his brother. And then I read something to them. We’ve taken adventures in fairy tales, climbed mountains in Tibet with Rin Tin Tin, and sailed on the ill fated Titanic. The gift of reading is one I’m so happy to share with my children. And I look for ways to help my Captain be a more confident reader in school. He loves getting lost in books like me, but hesitates with reading out loud. My favourite part of my day is story time when I see my Captain reading to his brother. It fills my heart with such love and pride, knowing they will pass along this gift to their children one day. With each passing moment in my own life when I read and write I feel my Mom living through my thoughts, words, and feelings. And when I have that power of print it’s like she’s never really gone and her heart lives on through me and my children.

This has been my submission to the amazing Ash of www.morethancheeseandbeer.com and the prompt was the word read. Please check out what Ash had to say and all the other talent who link up. Thank you my dear readers for sharing your love of reading my blog. ?