Reading now and then.

Reading has been a vital part of my life for years. I remember reading in my school classes, reading when I should have been doing chores, reading in the car (with a bucket just in case I got sick), reading when I was in the bathroom, well you get the picture.

I remember sneaking into Dad's closet and marveling at the many paperbacks stacked haphazardly on the bookshelves. He was the one who introduced me to Louis L'Amour and the whole western genre.

 

 When Ma saw me cutting up through the woods she knew something was cross-ways. took me only a minute to tell her. She sat in that old rocker and looked me right in the eye while I told it "Tye," she was almighty stern, "was Long Higgins looking at you when you fetched him?"

     "Right in the eye."
     "Take the dapple," Ma said, "he's the runningest horse on the mountain. You go west, and when you find a place with deep, rich soil and a mite of game in the hills, you get somebody to write a letter and we'll come down there, the boys an' me." excerpt from The Daybreakers by Louis L'Amour.

These books helped ignite my love of history, especially family history. My family also came from the poor Tennessee hills and migrated west looking for a place to settle, some leaving a trail of wanted posters behind them.

So for the last week I have been away from home visiting family in Utah. Logged another 2200 miles on the van and had a wonderful time, even if it took my daughter getting her tonsils out to make it happen. On the way back I got to listen to excerpts and bursts of laughter from my youngest as she read me her favorite parts in the book she is currently devouring.

       Arion nickered.
     "Jeez, Hazel," Percy said, "tell your horse to watch his language."
     Hazel tried not to laugh. "What did he say?"
     "With the cussing removed? He said he can get us to the top. "
     Frank looked incredulous. "I thought the horse couldn't fly?"
     This time Arion whinnied so angrily, even Hazel could guess he was cursing. 
     "Dude," Percy told the horse, "I've gotten suspended for saying less than that."

excerpt from The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, or Uncle Rick to his fandom. (Book 2 in the Heroes of Olympus series.) You should really start at the first book in the first Percy Jackson series though - The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians). Note: It is free through Kindle Unlimited so you can try it and decide if you want to read more.

Watching my children enjoying reading as much as I did? It gives me such joy and I know my parents would be proud, also. Watching my grandkids enjoy reading too? Heaven on earth.

Chris - #1