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!