I'm a Reader

Ever since I can remember I have been fascinated by books and the stories they tell.  Like most kids I loved good ol' Dr. Seuss, and particularly obsessed with Go Dogs Go.  I would want to have it read to me over and over, and when nobody was there to read it I would just turn the pages and look at the pictures and try to remember what the words said.  I wanted to read it myself so desperately that I memorized it.  Word for word.  I remember going to my friends house and reading it out loud to show off how I was such an awesome reader, but really I just knew the book by heart.

In third grade we had to take a reading aptitude test, to see what reading level we were on.  I had a 12th grade reading level.  I wasn't some prodigy, I just loved to read so much that I keep getting bigger and bigger books.

Growing up I would go to bed and read until my parents came and turned the light out.  But because they were in the habit of leaving the hall light on, I would lay in the doorway of my room and ready by the light of the hall.  Until I saw feet stop in front of me, and I would look up to an angry mother saying that I am going to ruin my eyes if I read by that light.  I didn't care, I wanted to read so I would go back to bed only to return after she had left.

My mom even tried to ground me from books.  She said I read too much and encouraged me to do something else, even if it meant watching TV.  Normally I don't ignore being grounded, but I decided that you can't really be grounded from reading, that was like being grounded from homework, and it wasn't in a parents jurisdiction to do that.  So I read on.

In 6th grade my teacher had a contest at the beginning of the year to see who could read the most.  We each had a name on a posterboard and for every 100 pages we read we got a sticker, and I had stickers that went all the way across the poster board and then my teacher had to start putting stickers on top of stickers until there were five stickers stacked up on top of each other.  During that school year I read Jurassic Park & The Lost World because I was determined not to read kids' books.

In 7th grade I started reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, which is famous for being super thick.  Normally I would carry books in my backpack at school, but I carried these by hand not only because their thickness made it easy for the binding to fall apart, but because I thoroughly enjoyed people's eyes bugging out as they passed me in the hall.

I don't say this to brag, but now my eyes are horrible, and I find myself desperately trying to put down my book so I can do something productive around the house.  I have Kindle on my iphone, which has been the best and worst thing for me 'cause here I sit at work, with my phone between me and my keyboard and it's virtually impossible to tear my eyes away so I can work.

Thanks to insomnia I lie awake at night reading away on my Kindle and I hear my mom's voice saying "You'll ruin your eyes." And I can't help but think, she was right to try and ground me from books.