Waxing Poetic

A big giant thanks to Mamma Mia for picking the Companionship of Books for this month’s topic – and I hope you’re picking up on my sarcasm. What? Don’t I like books? That’s the problem. I love them. I breathe and eat them. I’m an ENGLISH teacher for heaven’s sake! How in the world do I write about how I love books in one teeny blog without waxing pathetically poetic? Well, I can’t. So here it is. (My apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Druantia. I guess we're both on the same wavelength.)

How do I love thee books? Let me count the ways.

1. For letting me snuggle up under the covers with a Diet Coke at bedside, slowing sliding into a world beyond my maddening routine of laundry, diapers, papers to grade, and dusting.

2. For letting me waste the entire morning today while my kids watch TV and not feeling a bit guilty.

3. For broadening my travels to Africa, Russia, China, Mexico, the future, and the past at a bargain price of $12.95.

4. For those unforgettable moments with my toddler on my lap, “Dinosaurs Happy. Dinosaurs Sad. Dinosaurs Good. Dinosaurs Bad.”

5. For those moments when my biggest problem student stays after class and asks, “Can I buy this book from you?” (And I’m not entirely mad when it ‘disappears’ later that week anyway.)

6. For Atticus Finch, for Harry Potter, for Elizabeth Bennett, and millions of other friends, close and dear.

7. For saving me from so many mistakes because I got to see what would’ve happened had I followed that road.

8. For those inspired moments when I reread that line again outloud, just to taste the honey on my tongue.

9. For that second time reading it, because once just wasn’t enough.

10. For that bonding moment when you hear, “I have a book you just HAVE to read. You’ll love it,” and you do.