A Word on Books...

For the last 8 years or so, I have read very few actual books. By 'actual' I mean books without pictures and more than 40 pages. Oh, and books that don't contain words like "Whoops!" or "Roar!" or "Wow!" or pretty much any of those words that denote a sound and are followed by the requisite exclaimation mark. Before eight years ago, I read voraciously. When I was single, I read ALL THE TIME, especially when I was working 12-hour night shifts at the hospital. (People's ability to converse coherently really drops off after about 3 am.)

But something happened to me eight years ago that really cut into my reading time: I had my first baby. He was quickly followed by 4 additional siblings, including a pair of twins who all but demolished any free-time I had before. Reading was one of the first things to go, followed by most of my other hobbies.

Don't get me wrong... I read! In the last eight years I have read: The Book of Mormon (at least 6 times), It's Raining Pigs and Noodles (about a million), anything by Dr. Seuss (which I actually don't mind, the rhyming is entertaining and kinda catchy), and a hilarious book called "Big Plans," which we've read more times than I can count. Those are the Big 4. There are a lot more. I'm really big on making sure my kids have a lot to read. And my older sister bought them books every time she babysat for years... (until she got married and had a baby of her own.) When we moved here to Idaho about 8 months ago, I packed up 6 boxes of books. One entire box remains unopened (and un-missed) in the boys' closet.

I hear from my sisters all the time about all the great books they're reading... I honestly don't know where they find the time. If I had spare time to read and sat still long enough to get through a page, I was passed out, dreaming. Yes, I'm sad to say that my list of reads this last decade is frightfully short.

BUT! Two things, actually. 1. I am now back in the land of the living. I'm done having babies, have no infants (although still 2 in diapers) and by next fall more than half of my children will be in school. So I am officially reading more. I read an entire book this last weekend. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. It was really good and moved along at a pretty good clip (a MUST when you have as short an attention span as I do!) I just bought the other two in the trilogy on Amazon.
2. While I haven't been filling my head with the great literary works of the world these past 8 years, I have been otherwise occupied. I have spent some very precious moments curled up with my little brood, reading "Little Boy," "The Giving Tree" and many more. The year he was 7, my oldest son and I spent the year reading the Book of Mormon together. It was the catalyst for many deep conversation and sweet moments as his little testimony grew. His Primary teacher stopped me in the hall on Sunday and told me how surprised she was at his knowledge of the Scriptures.

So yeah, there have been a lot of books I missed. But I wouldn't trade what I was doing instead of reading. Now that my children are getting a little older, we've started the Harry Potter books together. Pick your jaw up off the floor. That's right, I've never read any of them. Or seen the movies. It's an adventure I was saving to share with them.