Return...

Simpler things, simpler times, simpler ways...

The word return drew me back to a place and time when kids were small and their joy was large. We read together so much. When they were very small, there were books that we had memorized. I still recite to them bits and pieces of Sandra Boynton books, or Where the Wild Things Are, or Jamberry (one berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry, hat berry, shoe berry in my canoe berry, under a bridge and over a dam, looking for berries, berries for jam). As they got older we made the leap to books chocked full of rhymes and sight words. Dr. Seuss ruled the day for phonics ease. Then there were the Harry Potter years, the earliest spent reading chapters aloud, the later years marked by waiting for midnight releases and racing through our individual copies to see who would discover the ending first.

I am blessed by three teens who really enjoy reading. Everyone has their favorite genre. But I do miss the shared world of books consumed together.

God help me savor good moments and cast away "stuff" that gets in the way of being fully present and living. Amen.