A Love of Reading

I go up and down the thrift shop aisles, familiar covers catching my eye. I've donated so many books to this store over the years, I wouldn't be surprised to see my name inside a few of them.

My little stack in the cart grows. Out of the whole pile, only one of the the titles is new to me.

Does it feel wasteful re-buying the same titles I've read and donated before?

Not at all, because something extraordinary is happening in my house. My daughter has found her love of reading again! Despite a 24-7 bombardment of social media, and days filled with school and sports, she still makes time to read books. I know too well that it's MUCH easier to scroll on my phone these days than open a book, so I'm even more impressed by her desire to read, especially after a few years of not reading much at all. That she wants to discuss what she's read, using words like symbol, narrator, and setting is almost too much for me to handle.

Love. Love. Love.

I had barely hoped this would happen, because she never showed interest in reading those books that meant a lot to me as a little girl: The Secret Garden, Gone With the Wind, Heidi, etc.

But now we are sharing grown-up books and it's delightful.

How did this happen, when it seems as if so much of schooling actually sucks the joy of learning out of kids?

One teacher.

Her 10th grade English teacher spends the beginning of every class sharing a book with her students. Five minutes is all it takes to give a brief synopsis of the book and share what makes it interesting. Students are free to take a turn doing the same, and Margaret's must-read list has grown.

Today she sent me a link of 3 more books to look out for.

So you bet these books are going home with me today. If out of these, she just reads one or two, I'll be happy. And maybe seeing her read more will get me off of Facebook for a while so I can do the same.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well, today was the big day! Molly switched from a 13 person class at a small private school to a 27 person class at our local public school. She was up early, dressed, bed made and ready to go. I was so darn proud of her.

The verdict? The bus was cool and a nice girl helped her in the cafeteria. We'll see how the year progresses. We have wanted to give public school a shot, and this seemed like a good opportunity to capitalize on the fact that she was excited about buses, bells, and picking out her own clothes. I'm not wild about our all being on different daily schedules, etc., but I hope it works out well.

I want to thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts today. They helped.

Jake doesn't start school until tomorrow... which meant a drastic change in look per the private school hair code.

Old Look:

Doesn't he look so happy?

New Look:


I felt like I was witnessing the 5 stages of grief on his face as he sat in the barber chair. This is right after Depression but well before Acceptance.