Get Lost Today

posted by Etta Worthington

 

So here’s my plan today.  I have some things to do, but not that many things. And this afternoon it’s supposed to rain. And if you live in Oak Park, River Forest or Forest Park, you can’t go anywhere non-essential. (Shelter in place—a recent addition to our vocabulary.) That’s sounds like a good time to get lost in a book.

Okay, I admit. It’s going to take some discipline. I need to keep the news off.  I need to stay off Huffington Post. I need to let myself reclaim the joy I used to have in reading.

“She always has her head in a book,” my mother used to complain to people.  Within earshot, I might add. But it was true. I loved nothing better than to find a book and get lost in the story. My bedroom had bookshelves near the bed.

Such pleasure. Holding the book. Opening the pages. Starting to read. Slowly getting pulled into the story. And having the characters appear on the stage of my mind. At that point we had no television and I was not allowed to go to movies, so books were everything.

I have to confess, most of the reading I have done the last several years has been for work. Things I needed to know. I’ve gotten into listening to audio books while in my car. And I have loved that, especially on longer jaunts.

But now, now I have the time to read and it’s supposed to rain this afternoon. So I pulled some books out of my bookshelf.

Let’s see, will it be poetry? Frost might be nice. Or Grace Paley. Yes, it’s been ages since I read any of her short stories. Or . . .

I need to read. (It’s okay to reread something. In fact that kind of fun. Rediscovering a long-lost friend.) I need to get lost today.

How about you? What will you read today?