May I?

May I ask how it got to be May? Is the world spinning faster on its axis? Yesterday I was lamenting the snow and today it's instant summer. What happened?

I guess it doesn't matter except the passage of time can be so...well, weird. Like when I'm reading. I can sit down and read for what seems like a little while and the check the time to discover that I've been reading for over an hour. Does this happen to you?

I get lost in books, and those books are what I strive to emulate when I write. When I'm writing, I think about that reader who wants to sit and enjoy a book somewhere far away from it all. The one who wants to visit another world. The one who just needs a word hit.

I'm that read on any given day. Reading relaxes me. It gives me a place to go when the place I am is not what I want it to be. It cheers me up and sets me straight when I'm whining about something. Reading does something that none of us can do all the time--it gives. Reading gives us so many things and never takes anything in return. How many things can you say that about?

I guess I'm gushing about my favorite hobby because I just read an article about a woman learning to read at 35. How great is that? It made me realize how lucky I am that I learned how to read at a young age and how blessed I feel to have read so many books by this point in my life. For some, having books lying around to read isn't a fiscal reality, and so I know how lucky I am that I can have books to read whenever I want without ever having to venture to the library (where, btw, I would happily die covered in my favorite novels).

So today I'm just writing because I'm grateful I can read and write and that I can share those activities with others. I think sometimes I take for granted that I can enjoy the written word, and today I'm especially grateful, after seeing the struggles of others, that I have this skill and can use it to amuse myself for hours on end. I hope you are, too. Happy Reading!