The Making of a Bibliophile

            Growing up I couldn't sit still long enough like a good little kid to learn how to read.  My mom tried to help me understand all those squiggly, linear drawings, but I couldn’t wrap my head around them; what purpose was there in categorizing letters as vowels and consonants? How was Y a vowel some of the time and not others times? Why did I have to know how to read in the first place? Why does it matter if it’s a verb or a transitive verb – what’s the difference between the two anyway?

            But my parents read to my siblings and me almost every night, my dad was a writer, I’m somewhat related to John Keates (a famous poet), my older siblings were creating clever comics and essays, almost everyone my age could read, and even my middle name was after a great aunt who was an avid reader – plus our house was full of books! So I was rather obligated to learn how, but I just couldn’t figure out what those darn symbols were trying to tell me!

            But one day the letters finally clicked.  One minute I didn’t understand a single thing I was looking at, and the next minute real, tangible words were jumping from the page at me like crickets!

As it turned out, the writer’s blood that runs through our family pooled in my veins as well.  I couldn’t stop reading after my awakening; in fact, I found out I sort of kind of really very loved books! I enjoy the smell of them, the look, the feel, the sound, and the taste! Well, ok not so much the taste… newspaper tastes better.  But I guess I went from hating books to becoming a bit of a bibliophile.  I actually want to collect books one day because I think they're so pretty. 

What’s really cool is the family discussions inspired by books.  We all have similar tastes and insights, so we enjoy analyzing literature together.  Books can share knowledge, wisdom, and insight, start up a good laugh and lead a good cry, tell a good story and teach a valuable lesson, heal a wounded soul and inspire the weak, and so much more – plus, they have the potential to bring a family together in meaningful communication.  Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), I have very good memories attached to them.