Young Love, First Love

When I was little, I loved to read. Wait. No. I lived to read! I wasn't a particularly athletic child, and the house I grew up in was not part of a neighborhood with lots of other children to play with, but we had lots of books! I was reading before I went to school, and I drank in the praise of adults who were impressed with my mad skills...it was the beginning of my over-achieving.

As I grew, I found that the books I really loved were how-to books and self-improvement books...all the non-fiction. I also read novels and some historical stuff, but what I really craved was information on how life is done. To give you some perspective on how much I loved books, I used to go to the public library for fun. I would just sit there, reading book after book from the shelves, sometimes not even bothering to check them out or take them home.

In the eighth grade, I met a boy at the library. He also liked to read, and he was the first boy I kissed. He was not a particularly good kisser, but he sure knew lots of stuff and read a lot of books! As these things go in middle school, the relationship soon fizzled, but my library was still there for me, and so I kept reading.

When I first met my husband in the tenth grade, I devoured books about love and dating. I rarely brought these books home, but I stored up knowledge about relationships, and we eventually married. When I was pregnant with my first child, I turned to books and magazines about child development and parenting, and stacked them high on the coffee table for easy access.

Somewhere between the birth of that first child and the business of a young family, my reading dwindled until I was just reading 1 or two magazines a week (along with a LOT of Dr. Seuss!). I found that I didn't really mind, and I took great joy in watching my children grow into readers of everything they could get their hands on, too!

When I worked at the church, I marvelled at Tim's collection of books. Sometimes, when he was out of the office, I would just walk among his books and run my fingers along the spines on the shelves, occasionally taking one down to open it and smell the ink and old paper inside. Sometimes I would even borrow a book, and I would try to find time to read it. Inevitably, as a working mom, I rarely finished a book.

Now that our children are grown, and my life has gone through so many changes, I find myself once again curiously drawn to this first love. Without time to spend in the library on a regular basis, I have turned to my kindle, and I have three books open right now! I still prefer non-fiction, and most of the books on my shelf fall into that category. A new category of both print and digital books that I currently own falls into the knitting realm, and what joy it is to read and knit "at the same time!"

I guess you could say that I have come full circle. Welcome back, reading! I've missed you...where will you take me today?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit (and Read) in Good Health!