Post 134: Joy of watching her read

Today, I'm cleaning up the house, trying to prepare for being gone to Italy. I don't want to come home to a dirty house! However, I had to stop and take a moment and share with you something I truly enjoy seeing, sometimes it's frustrating, but most of all it fills me with Joy.

My daughter Ashlynn, has been reading since she was 3-years-old. Now at that time she memorized a lot of it, but she was reading. To this day she is still reading, 9 times out of 10 she can be found with a book in her hand, 5 or 6 of them in her bag, and 3 or 4 on her shelf by her bed. Yes, she does play the wii, the computer, and watch TV...but the truth is she reads just as much.

I suppose when both your parents are avid readers and can usually be found reading something, whether it be a book, something online, a magazine, or a paper, it's only natural that she would read the way she does. She reads everything. You never know what you will find her reading - which is sometimes scary!

Brier enjoys books and likes stories, but he's not to the point where he can be found with a book in his possession at all times. He'd rather run, jump, kick, flip, and drive me crazy with his energy! However, I think someday - he'll be just like the rest of us...always having a book within reach. I long for the day when all 4 of us will be sprawled out in the living room reading - it will be like our own "family library day". Weird I know. So why am I sitting here typing this blog about her reading to you, when I'm trying to clean up the house? Because as I was vacuuming and putting things away and what not, I turned to find my daughter sitting on the stairs; reading. It just makes me smile. I had to stop what I was doing and find the camera, by the time I got it she had sprawled out on to the floor, but I still took the photo. I don't enjoy cleaning, matter of fact I hate it. Thing is I do like having a clean home. So for her to just happen to be right in my way, with her book...allowed me to have a moment of joy while doing an un-joyful task. Thankfully, she did take after her Dad though and can put her book down, walk away, do something else, and come right back to it. Unlike her mother, who once she sits down with a book, probably won't move until she's reached the last page! Nothing gets done when my nose is stuck in a book. People wonder where I've been, why I haven't blogged, why I missed an appointment, or why the dishes didn't get done...it's because I get so sucked into the story - that I disappear from reality for about 24 hours.

Yeah, I read a book in a day usually. Sometimes, I get stuck staying up later than planned just to finish it. And I do have to get up, take Lady out, eat, get something to drink, go to the bathroom, and usually fix dinner...but even still my mind is transported to another time, another place, and I rush right back to my book. David laughs at me!

Thank God he knows me the way he does and Ashlynn has his ability to put her book down, but boy does it bring me joy to see her found sitting, laying, or sprawled out where ever with a book in her hand...even when I'm trying to vacuum around her.

We are going to need 2 hammock swings...