Before all this quarantine began, a group of writers gathered together at a coffee house for a rare morning gabfest about books, magazines, journals, and writing in particular and in general.
One of the questions always asked when wordsmiths get together is the usual but always interesting query of “what is your earliest memory of when you became aware of reading being something special to you?”
Ahhh, an easy one for me, i spoke up quickly without even having to think about it since it hangs close to my heart where i can touch it if need be.
“In first grade of grammar school i recall once a week a reading lady came into our classroom and while standing in front of us, she would thumb through a large size magazine to find a story in it that she read to us.
While we had library books and 10 cent comic books that were traded back, forth and back again, there was no room in Mom’s budget to have magazines mailed to our home.”
What is it about memories of reading and writing that create such exciting energy to fill any room where scribblers congregate?
Oh, the excitement of valuable books and magazines. Reading Highlights at the doctor’s office still would attract me today. The one magazine we had was TV Guide and I’d read it end to end.
You are so right! When life got easier with a step-father in the scene, we did get TV Guide and i, too read every word. As a teen i bought movie star mags with my babysitting money. I made sure my children got Jr. Highlights
Remember Friday evenings going to the library with my mother, had to of been seven years old… great atmosphere, even looking back on it.
Glad this story brought up a fond memory for you.
Can’t pinpoint exactly when I realized reading was magical but I can say that, as a painfully shy kid, I never minded being picked on to read at “reading time”. And I’ll never forget my weekly trips to the library with my mom. She was a major “influencer” 😀
I just love reading stories that kick up memories for others….thanks
I lived at the library when I was a kid
Alas, our library was too far and Mom didn’t drive. Since i was denied that pleasure i made up for it in my early 30s by working in 3 different libraries (elementary school, middle school and Rider College-later name NJ State) before settling into a permanent job. Well, permanent for a while anyway. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Ditto, to the comments above. I walked to the library twice a week for my maximum haul of three books a time.
wasn’t that limit awful! the elementary school library limited us to 2