So Many Books and Words to Discover...with Family

My nightstand is a mess. But, it suits me. Not that I like messes, but I am comforted by clutter of my understanding.  I understand my piles of books that start off on the nightstand and then cascade to the floor as I dig for my "cheater" glasses and a pen or pencil to write in the margins of the books I read.

One of the things that I can be happy about with my grown sons is their pure and absolute love of reading.  My husband reads and reads and reads. And, what is really most excellent is our grandchildren love to read as well.  All of us adults have our likes and favorite genre of book and sometimes they cross over into each other's territory as we try to be patient until the book is finished being read and is handed off to us.

I have two places where I read:  the living room wrapped in a quilt sitting in a comfy overstuffed chair surrounded by bookcases, my dogs, family pictures and collections of rag dolls and teddy bears.  When I read in the living room, I often do so in complete quiet and privacy (except for the dogs). So, my favorite place to read is my bedroom where I am often and happily interrupted while reading in bed, by anyone in the household who wants to ask what I am reading or to share something in a book they are reading. It is also common for Lizzy or Eli or both to come wandering down the hall and bound onto the bed with a book or books and either read along side me or ask for a story to be read to them. This is truly a blessing of the most profound interaction we can have as a family and I treasure these small but wonderful moments. The icing on the cake is watching Lizzy or Eli fall asleep, curled up under the covers, with thier arms around one of the dogs.

So far, we have not purchased Kindles and don't plan to in the near future; they just don't interest us. To us, there is someting soothing and comforting about holding a book.  It's an interaction of the soul that I personally would not get from holding an electronic book. I mean, how can you write in the margins and turn down pages, stick a really cool book mark given to you by a friend or made out of old beads by your 9 year old granddaughter into the pages to mark a spot? Maybe if I didn't sit at a computer all day peering into it's screen, I'd feel differenly, but I don't think so.  I like the messy piles of books. They make me feel connected to the authors and the big cozy chairs or carpeted floor in a bookstore where I can sit and literally become lost in words and different worlds of time.

There are so many things to be grateful for as a parent.  OK...our adult children can be challenging, but I gotta tell you, there is nothing that pleases me more than to see either Jeff or Tyler go to a bookcase overflowing with books and find the "perfect" book. The book that opened their minds to the great, "What if..." in the world. The books that have done that for them are tattered, marked and written in. To watch them move their hands across the books looking for one that has a specific piece of history in it that they want to share with me and John makes my heart sing.  I made alot of mistakes with them; but knowing they developed their love of reading and books from me makes me feel like I did something right.

So, you ask, what are you reading, Pat?  This is my nightstand which is overflowing with books, a dog toy, hand lotion, socks I just took off, a cut glass bowl that holds cheater glasses, a tissue container and somewhere hiding behind the books is a pen and pad of paper.

I read multiple books at once and choose the one to snuggle up with depending on whatever it is I want to read.  Right now, I am trying to finish the book on the top left stack called, The Dog Who Spoke with Gods.  It's a brutal book about the inhumane practice of using dogs in labratory experiments for pharmecutecal companies.  I started the book 4 years ago and just couldn't get through it.  If I were to become an advocate for anything at this juncture in my life it would be to stop animal abuse by humans who declare themselves smart. But, I digress. Enslaved by Ducks is a silly read about a family living with all manner of ducks, geese and other fowl.  I pick it up after putting down the other book because it takes me to a happier place about caring for animals. Then, oddly enough, I want to go and have a conversation with our African Gray parrot, Joey.

Sailing the Wine Dark Sea is about Greek exploration of the seas. Although I detest boats bobbing on the ocean (can you say really seasick?), one of my passion reads is anything about the sea and early masted schooners. This is a scolarly read and makes me pay attention to every sentence. No Ellen Woods speed reading in this book!  I think I am enjoying the learning, but it's all Greek to me.

The pile on the right are my go-to books when I want to connect on a deep level of understanding about my dogs and my faith - hence, Isaiah For Airheads.  I mean, who can REALLY understand Isaiah without a guide? This book is my wonderful guide through the Isaiah national forest of all things wonderful.

I have a marvelous little book of spiritual poems called Ripples that I adore. There's also a book about the REAL Moby Dick titled, The Heart of the Sea.  Love this book.  Oh, I don't like the whaling industry one bit, but I love to read about the real Sperm whale ramming the ship in defense of his harem.  You go Moby!

The dog books range from absolute training, Control Unleashed, Don't Shoot the Dog and the Dog Vinci Code, to more heartfelt connecting when working and living with our dogs.  I pick up Suzanne Clothier's book, If Dogs Prayers Were Answered, Bones Would Rain From the Sky, at least twice a week to check my notes in the margins and to see if I've grown in patience and understanding with my dogs. So far, I'm doing pretty good; but there is always room to be better than I am today.  I depend on her words to measure my progress. She sets the bar very high, but I appreciate that.  To deepen my understanding and connection I have a book that truly gets to the heart of how much we humans need to learn about the other animals and that book is, The Emotional Lives of Animals.  There is much to learn. Sigh.....

I don't really have a Bucket List of books.  Having gradulated from college first majoring in English and American Literature, I've read just about every classic book I was told to read and some I just wanted to read. I'd like to revisit some of them, but not right now. Maybe those are the books I'll save and download onto a Kindle. Dunno 'bout that, or when or if it will ever be a Kindle in the future, but I do think downsizing to a smaller home or living as a vagabond will have something to do with that.  Until then, I look forward to snuggling into bed surrounded by multiple quilts and pillows, three dogs, a cup of tea and my piles of books -some like old friends, warm and comforting full of margins of notes containing the thoughts and musings of my life on this journey.....and, oh yeah, family.