When the ink starts to fade

"The world was hers for the reading." - Betty Smith from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Long gone are the days when your local paper was delivered by a local teen on his bike whose throwing arm had sometimes a lot to be desired. I remember over the years of cutting out endless stories and pictures which made their way to my scrapbook or on my wall, even in some of my work places. How many of us can remember going into a business or visiting a friend’s home and on the fridge or wall see a favorite comic strip carefully cut out and taped up for others to enjoy? Maybe it was a picture or article of a family member or a recent celebrity death. I still recall the death of Elvis and the endless news-stories that followed for weeks. I remember calling my mama at her job when the news of the King of Rock and Roll was found dead at his home, which I never was allowed to do unless it involved someone bleeding or the house burning down. But to me that was news that couldn’t wait until she got home that evening and had to share it with my mama, who loved the man and his music since she was my age at the time.

Nowadays within a blink of an eye, news is available 24-7 via the internet and is within easy reach of everyone. But there's something about printed word that I can't give up. Maybe it’s about a book in your hand, the feel and weight along with the simple attractiveness of the book itself, even the smell of the pages fill your senses. I can open up a book that I’ve read countless times but it still manages to take me back to the day I first pick it up. I don’t own any of the electronic books such a Kindle. My job is spent in front of a computer screen so I rather pick up and hold a real physical book in my hand and be digital free. Reading a local newspaper or a book helps me relax and lose track of time. I love collecting my favorite authors and I have a few First Edition’s. I’m one of those who also goes to the movies when one of my favorite books make it to the big screen and see what is changed, what is missing and what remained the same as the author written it.

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul" –Joyce Carol Oates

I enjoy reading so much because the books I read are always there for me, waiting for me to open them up and never judge me but perhaps teach me a lesson instead. Reading has uncovered many things to me growing up and remains to teach this ole’ gal something to think about to this day, my books are like my friends who take me on as a shot-gun rider to unforgettable journeys and destinations that my actual feet may never touch. Even if the ink begins to fade on the page, the memories of reading that same page will remain clear.

“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home” -Anna Quindlen