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Monday, June 23, 2008

On the Bookshelf

My Mom has told me she taught me to read before kindergarten, ( Thanks,Mom for that loving sacrifice of time,one of many!)I don't really remember the learning process at all. I don't ever remember not being able to read. I do remember the thrill of first grade & going to the school library & being allowed to take books out. I chose a book way beyond 1st grade reading level about a marmalade colored horse & the librarian looking at me & telling me I couldn't read THAT !! Well,having been born the 4th child out of 4, at a very tender age you realize you are way behind before you even get started & this changes how you approach life. I told that librarian "Oh, YES, I CAN" in a determined way & oh,yes I DID read that big book! Who cares that I had to figure out what color marmalade was,the challenge to conquer had been laid before me & conquer I would!!
I have many childhood favorites I can recall.Classics that range from "Babar the Elephant","At the Back of the North Wind"," The Classic Mother Goose Rhymes" to Grimm & Anderson's fairy tales.Speaking of the last,I read some of those to my children & realized they should be renamed to "Gruesome & Grim"....seems to me Cinderellas step sisters cut their toes off trying to fit the shoes!! The stories were alot more bloody than I had remembered!!!
Libraries & bookstores have always been like coming home to me. The unique scent of awaiting knowledge enticing me to stay & linger. Choices surround me like a genii's thousand wishes waiting to be granted. The love of reading was a planted seed in my childhood that blossomed into a much treasured companion that has walked with me through all my days.
God often bestows His gifts in a quiet way, laying silent in our lives & easily overlooked . When I pause to look,my heart is a vessel that holds many treasures. What are the sweet joys & love's that God,unaware,sowed in your heart to grace your journey?? Happy treasure hunting to you today & may our hearts raise in gratitude to He who gives good gifts!

1 comment:

Nanette Merrill said...

Oh Jill I feel the same way. The city I grew up in had 1 main library and then sevearl smaller annex type of libraries across town. I would walk to the closest one all the time. And I worked in the school library, too. Reading is so important to me. I'm reading the sequel to Pillars of the Earth right now called World without end. Pillars is my favorite book and I've read it a couple times. I'm not disappointed with the sequel.