Hi, I'm Kecia...

...and I'm a binge reader.

I was thinking about that as I stirred the cider syrup for our apple pancakes last night. When I start reading, I can't stop! That's why the only books I'm reading right now are the ones I'm reading to/with the girls for school (Escape Across the Wide Sea and The Minstrel in the Tower, to name a couple), the Bible, and Beth Moore's Daniel study. (Wouldn't it be great if the Bible was one of those books I couldn't stop reading? Hmm)
My love affair with books started before my memory did. I can't remember not knowing how to read. Or not loving to read. My favorite books became friends to me. I loved the way they looked and smelled and felt and made me feel. I would read the same ones over and over and over (still do). Whenever I see a favorite book from my childhood, I want to buy it, or at least make my girls read it, hoping they'll love it like I did. Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs, The Tiny Family with their tiny little things, Katy No-Pocket, with her sweet little face. Here Come the Tuckers--they moved,  just like I did! And when we moved across the country, the books I owned got to go with me, and most of the time my favorite library books were there in the new library, easy to find by the author's last name. The only beloved book I only found in one library and never saw again was a doll book called Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June. I looked it up on Amazon out of curiosity, and it's there! I didn't buy it, though. Yet. But back to the library--mmm, I love the smell of a library. It smells safe, and home-y, and a little exciting, with so many old friends to connect with and new friends to be discovered.
I guess what started this reminiscing was taking Jessica to the "Nifty Vintage" store yesterday, to try on silly clothes as one of our mother/daughter dates. When I asked if she saw anything she wanted me to buy her, she went straight to the books. :D That's my girl! She is completely absorbed by the Anne books by Lucy Maud Montgomery right now--I think she's read more of them than I have! I ended up bringing home Swiss Family Robinson for her, Trixie Belden #1 for Mikayla (I know they're not quality literature, but I loved them at that age!) and a collection of all the Madeline books for Rebecca. I still have the original Madeline memorized, along with many others that I read to them when they were little. As an older child I read the Little House books so many times I think I even had some of those practically memorized! The Narnia books, too. (Again, maybe if I read the Bible that much...)
I'm so glad my girls love to read as much as I do, even if I do get frustrated when they're in "book world" and don't hear me talking to them, or when I find them reading under the covers with a flashlight. I'm fussing on the outside, but on the inside I'm gleeful. With friends like Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls, the American Girls, Madeline, and yes, even Junie B., I think they'll do just fine.