Reflecting

“What a pity every child couldn’t learn to read under a willow tree…”

— Elizabeth George Speare

From The Witch of Blackbird Pond”

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Do you remember when you first learned to read? I don’t, however I remember always having a book in my hand! Another question…did you have a favorite place to read…or did you read all the time…anywhere you were? As I marvel at the grands learning to read, one loves to be in my lap…I think of the Willow tree in the front yard and ponder putting yet another bench under it…for them to have that perfect place to continue on their journey of reading.



But I am getting ahead of myself…let me continue.



As I got older, I was active in cheerleading, FHA, school plays, etc. but I still had a book nearby…whether it was on a long bus ride or in class after finishing class work…and definitely in my bed at night!



When cousins would visit and my mom called us all together for a baseball game, I would get as close to the old oak tree…hoping the ball would not come my way, and a book tucked away to easily grab…my mom, who loved baseball would become so frustrated with me! Bless her heart, I remember one summer day when she was working out in the garden and I was supposed to be watching the pot of dried Limas (not realizing how tight things were and how that pot of beans were essential to our meal…after all I was a preteen…full of self)…I pulled up a stool beside the stove, opened my book, escaped into my book and burned those beans! As you can imagine mom was very angry that day…told me I wasn’t worth the salt in bread…those words hurt…but as I grew up and had a family of my own I realized that comment came from frustration. Did it stop me from reading? Nope! I still wrap myself up into a book and forget…the dishes, the dirty floors, the laundry!



When/where did I learn to read? I can’t remember NOT reading…can you?