I’ve recently been seeing a lot of commercials, news stories, and articles about getting kids to read books. I know when I was growing up (70’s), there was a pull to get kids to read due to illiteracy. Has that become an issue again, with all our modern technology?
I remember when I was young, adds for parents to read to their children. It helps makes a stronger bond between parent and child. I would of loved if my single, narcissistic mother would of taken the time to read to me.
But, I got lucky, that I had a teacher, who use to read to the class. She made me feel so special, that someone would take the time to read to me. Not to mention, how she opened up a whole new world to me. I still remembered how I looked so forward to the weekly reading in this class. I’d lay my head down on my desk, close my eyes, and get lost in another world.
After that, reading became my very best friend. Growing up with a narcissist parent, there was always a lot of chaos going on. Books and reading very quickly became my escape from the realities of my life. For a short time, I could become someone else in a different world. Getting lost in a character made me feel like I wasn’t alone, or the only one going through the same situations in life. Here was someone that understood me, even if they weren’t a real person.
As I got a little older, I shared my passion for reading with my siblings, by reading to them. I wanted them to feel the same joy I had gotten form someone reading to me. During the summer, we would ride our bikes to the local library. Which became a special place for me, with all those books of knowledge, and imagination. So, you can guess my obsession, when the internet came around later. Giving me the world at my fingertips.
By the time I was a teenager, I always had a book in my hand, that went everywhere with me. Surprisingly enough, my narc mother didn’t care what I was reading by this time. Which was the adult, sexually explicate, romance novels. As a naive teenager, these books became my source of sex, morals, and relationship education.
There was always something so intimate about curling up with a good book, that could give you hope for something missing in your own life. Reading made me realize, I could be anyone I wanted to be, once I was old enough to be on my own. I didn’t have to be what a narc mother projected into me to be. I could make my own choices.
The saddest part about a book is when you’ve reached the end of it. It’s time to put that friend on the shelf for another day. I have re-read many books. At different stages of my life, I’ve connected with different parts of a book previously read. Again finding a friend that understood me and what I’m going through at the time.
Some books have helped me escape reality, teach me about myself and the world around me, given me a different prospective on life, or just plan made me think. But most of all, books have been a friend that has always been there for me when no one else was. They have taught me compassion and who I wanted to be as a person. It also gave me a safe place to explore my own imagination, in a world with no limits.
Get lost in a good book.
