Friday, February 26, 2010

Reading is fundamental...

I have always loved a good book. I read so many in college that were hard and wonderful and thought provoking. Now, like my love of all things PBS and Golden Girls, I enjoy books that are funny, mystery of nature and almost always end up happy, or at least resolved. Occasionally, I do like to read novels that make me think and some that are truly sentimental. These are few and far between. Here is my confession: I end up reading the end of a book if it becomes to stressful for me. I do return and finish reading the whole book, but I know the ending and that makes it easier. Reading is a pleasure, especially when I read a book in a day and then sigh at the end because I am happy. I haven't done enough of this lately.

My time is spent blogging, reading blogs, keeping up with celebrity nonsense on too many sites and doing those other silly things I do. You know, those children who accompany me most everywhere and there's my husband who loves me and sometimes requires I pay attention to him. Oh, and I work. So certainly, I find it important to incorporate reading into my day. Why wouldn't I?

So here is the story of how I tried to reintroduce books to my life.

The kids and I went to dinner after Lilly's ballet class at the early hour of 4pm. Yes, 4pm. Don't judge. We were hungry, and I haven't showered in a couple of days so I knew we wouldn't run in to anyone, so 4pm it was. Well, turns out an entire basketball team, all the cheerleaders and all twelve of their coaches and said coaches wives and children waltzed through the door five minutes after we were seated. Did I mention it was raining all day and there was a close call on my life driving around town in the worst rain storm where I couldn't see the road and that I burst into tears because I was so scared? By the time all these lovely teenagers and very tall adults meandered into CPK, my eyes may have been going in different directions and my hair was so frizzy, I may have frightened everyone. All was fine though and we had a nice leisurely meal. No one threw anything and the kids colored and cleaned their plates, which is almost unheard of with both of my kids at the same time. I must say also, that the basketball team and group of cheerleaders from Mt. Eden Monarchs were very well behaved. I was so impressed, I might even write a letter to the school to tell them how proud they should be of their young people. It was nice to see.

So back to my point, while eating dinner I remembered I had a gift card to Barnes and Noble and it was still early since we ate, you know, at 4pm. The store is right next door and we could just saunter over there and browse, spend some time in the childrens' section and I could get a few books and magazines. What a fabulous idea!

This is what happens when you go to Las Vegas for four days and then try to reenter real life. Um, hello reality. We entered the book store with me chasing James and trying to hold him while he picked up four bridal magazines and threw them on the floor. I should have run for the car then. Instead, I told the kids to play quietly on the bench for three minutes so I could get two magazines. That went well. Then we headed to the train table. By this time, I was hurling myself on top of books and cards and magazines in hopes of stopping James from ruining every display. Lilly, in all her princessness proceeded along as if she would die of embarrasement because her mom's hair was so crazy and she appeared to be dripping with sweat so bad that she couldn't see.

Playtime was over when James decided to poop all over his clothes. For some crazy reason I had extra pants and after a trip to the bathroom to clean him up and gather my thoughts (ha), we headed to the bargain bin just in case. Lilly ended up with flash cards and I got three books. Had no idea what they were until we got home. Turns out I've read two of them. The other one is sixty-two pages long. At least it wasn't raining. Until we got home and I had to drag myself , all our stuff , and both kids up thirty-one stairs.

I WILL READ my sixty-two pages. But, I'll probably start at the end and work my way back.

happymommy

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I only wish I could have been there
to witness the scene at Barnes and
Noble. Dinner sounds relatively calm, but, the Barnes and Noble trip sounds almost too good to miss. Your life is an adventure and I commend you for taking on one
more activity - reading. Good stuff!