Ok, So I meant to write about this a way long time ago, but oh well...at least I'm finally doing it. (
WARNING: This post consists mostly of me reminiscing about the past and venting. As a result, it will probably be really long and boring, so I apologize.)
So I
LOVED our lecture on books and literature! LOVED it! I think doing our books assignment and then talking about books in class just helped me to remember how much I love to read and how much I miss it. It's so sad to think about the fact that I hardly ever read anymore...except for text books and research articles, that is.
Growing up, I REALLY LOVED TO READ. My mom didn't really allow us to have video games in the house (maybe I'll have to write a blog post about that some time)and she encouraged us not to watch much TV...as a result, we did a lot of reading.
As stated in my last post, I mostly read Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott books. I've always been kind of a night owl and it was even worse as a teenager. I'm also not really the type of person who likes to read a chapter here, a chapter there. When I read something, I like to sit down and read it in one sitting (another reason why I don't read as much now). So when reading a book, it usually consisted of me going up into my room, ignoring the world for a a day or two and getting no sleep.
I remember o
ne time specifically, I had started a book one day and had been reading it without stop. That night I was laying in bed with my lamp on and my mom came in to say good night. Our family had to wake up the next morning at 6am to leave for our ward camping trip. As my mom told me good night, she warned me that if she came in to wake me up at 6am and i was still reading she was gonna be ticked and I would be in big trouble. I read and read. The only break I took was at approximately 3:45am when I went to the bathroom to get some tissue. My favorite character had died and I was sobbing (probably one of the only times in high school I cried over a book or a movie...I'm not a big crier). Then I remember I was reading and all of a sudden I heard a noise coming from my mom's bedroom door. I looked at the clock and it was 6am. I threw the book under my pillow, turned off my lamp, and pretended to be asleep. My mom came in and "woke me up", thinking I had been asleep the whole night. As soon as she left the room I finished the last couple pages of the book and then got up and got ready for our camping trip. To this day, she still doesn't know. haha.
This type of behavior was pretty typical of me as an adolescent. When reading a book that I loved, I would usually read all day long until it was bed time. Then I'd quickly get ready for bed and set my alarm for early morning seminary, after which I'd stay up and continue reading all night under the light of my nightstand lamp until my alarm would go off. I'd turn off the alarm and read for a couple more minutes until I had to leave for seminary. After seminary, I'd race home, hop into bed, and keep reading until I had to get out for school. After school was done, I'd continue reading, taking only occasional bathroom breaks, until the book was finished.
Sigh. Oh those were the days.
Reading was also a big part of Christmas tradition for me and my older sister, Alisa. On Christmas eve, my sister and I would wait until everyone else went to bed. Then we'd get a stack of books, go into our room and stay up as long as we could reading a favorite book. It was way fun and totally bonded us.
I miss it. I miss being young and having almost zero real responsibilities (except maybe school, which wasn't very hard). I miss having the free time to actually enjoy the fall and winter season, curled up and completely sucked into a good book. (Dude, I
really miss being less stressed.)
Well, life today definitely has more responsibilities. You can't just stay home and ignore the world for an entire day at a time. School is a little bit more challenging and time consuming...and you have to worry about making money to pay the bills as well as fulfill callings where people are dependent on you. And you all of a sudden have an abundance of these things called "meetings". Dang, when did that happen? I hate meetings. But despite all these "grown-up" things we have to deal with, despite the incredible amount of stress and time commitments life has no problem barfing on us, I've decided I want to make time to read. I
want to go back to that comfort of laying in bed on a rainy day and getting swept away in an awesome story or having some major food for thought. And Today, I dedicate myself to making time for it...even if it's not
that much time. Instead of wasting my time watching some dumb episode of "E! True Holly Wood Story" I've already seen a hundred times, or just taking forever to get off the couch because I'm tired, I'm going to go upstairs and read a book! Because, gosh dang it,
I miss it!
