I have to thank my mother for choosing the very best stories to read to me as a child. Those books are still top today. She read every single night and nurtured a love of books in me that no Ipad/nook/kindle can replace. The stanky old library books are really where it is at. I have to thank my father too! He did not partake in the bed time "Make way for the Ducklings" bit. However he was always reading, usually at meal time. To himself and then sharing a highlight with us. The words, the images are still with me hauntingly so.
The bedtime story....I love it! It is perhaps the very best time of day for so many reason.
It makes me seem very old, but I am so sick of all the current hip songs, shows, books, marketing, food, furnishings. I have a pit in my stomach...it aches for the 80's maybe even the 70's. So tonight it was Mom's choice for story time. I usually read one time for all to listen, but on special nights (the kind when i am in the mood to snuggle in each kids bed) I hop around and each kid gets a tailor made story for them. I love those nights best.
For Gwendolyn, who reads in the car everyday, never forgets a book when going to a restaurant and laughs out loud at her comedy tales and brings a smile to my face: Lazy Tommy Pumpkin Head. Perhaps my very most favorite childhood tale. I always checked it out from the library and now thanks to mom and Amazon.com have a copy of my own to share.
For Jonah, the quiet reader that knows so much more than he will let you believe, who reads fact rarely fiction and then builds models of the things he has read about: Ferdinand. The simplest yet truest story i hold on to about just being yourself and not caring about the rest. A lesson I try to live each day with God on my side and am trusting my boy will do the same
For Piccolina, who pretends she can read sweet valley high but we all know it is a rouse. The lady that will charm you into reading the longest bedtime story but you gladly say yes because she is the best snuggler. The Giving Tree: A story i still do NOT understand and seems very sad and unfriendly and entitled and emotionally draining. However it is there, like the birthmark you came with! And you read it, spin it, try to cover it up and are so glad when it is over and its time to sing songs. Oh Phoebe...you are a light in this dark world...thank you for listening.
