I Read.....A Lot.

Since I was a small child, even before I entered school, I read. I read in my bed each night before sleep, sometimes hiding beneath the covers with a torch.  I read, splayed on the floor before a fan on sultry summer days. I read in grand or hastily thrown together cubby houses made from sheets and tarps and pillows. I read under the bed, or draped in accommodating tree branches or supine on woven grass mats or blankets in the deep shade of mango trees.   I read on the trampoline, bouncing gently and rythmically.  Books were my most longed for reward and prized possessions. 

I still adore books.  While I no longer read for endless hours as I did in my childhood, I still read each night before sleep and in odd empty moments throughout the day - waiting on doctors, waiting for Jeff's train or having a cuppa during the day. 

When it came to pass that we were no longer eligible to adopt (as I then had cancer as well as a cluster of auto-immune diseases), we used our adoption funds to build proper, glorious bookshelves in a spare room. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world, and still 10 years later such a simple thing continues to bring me daily joy.

We do have other bookshelves throughout the house, but this is my favourite special spot...

Of late most of the books I have read have been on the kindle that I received for Christmas a couple of years ago.

I love my kindle. It is small, light, fits in the smallest handbag so travels easily with me wherever I go. It also hides the fact from Jeff that I have more than one book on the go at any one time (it drives him crazy).  The books are always varied - a novel,  a non-fiction, self-help type book.  No, I couldn't read more than one novel simultaneously.

Mine is a kindle paperwhite which means the screen is lit in a way that makes it feel like you are reading a real book.  It's easy on the eye which makes reading more enjoyable for me.  I'm very close to finishing Shirley MacLaine's 'The Camino'.  I seem to have a Camino and long hike obsession at present.  Living vicariously, trapped inside a body that would love to have these adventures, yet once again seems to be collapsing around me no matter what I do. 

This is one of the most beautiful, extraordinary things about books.  I may be battling to get through my days as fatigue and pain try to overwhelm me.  I may have days where I struggle to unscrew the lid on the milk bottle or dressing myself requires a ridiculous effort but...... I can pick up my kindle and I'm in Tibet or walking the Camino, or learning new meditation strategies to help me manage pain and the fear and at time the despair that creeps up to take a hold.  Fear and despair that I have to face pain and extreme fatigue again, that I don't have the energy to contribute in the way I wish to or to live the life I wish.  My days are full of compromises, dead ends and constantly adapting to suit what my body needs.  But when I read, I'm free.

Have a great day my friends. Spend some time thinking about what small thing can contribute to your joy and freedom each day instead of staring your fears and limitations in the face and seeing nothing else. You can do it!  Let me know how you go.

love and light
Sandy