i used to read a lot. like, a lot a lot. partly it was vocation: i was a double-major undergrad who went immediately on to get back-to-back graduate degrees (in art history and museum studies, because i wanted to make the big bucks).
but mostly it was because i loved words. books, magazines, talk radio, dictionaries. (did i mention i was not part of the cool crowd in school? did i need to?) i read at the table, in the bathtub, behind textbooks in class. i read cereal boxes and shampoo bottles if there was nothing else available. at one point, my mother hid my tattered copy of gone with the wind because i had read its 1024 pages so many times it had begun to disintegrate. (we're talking probably a dozen times or more. and yes, i did find it, though it took me a while – it was in the laundry hamper. well played, mom; well played). i knew my husband was the man for me when i realized he read even more than i do, and we spent many nights and weekends in happy silence with our respective printed materials, or reading the funny bits out loud to each other.
then i had children.
it is hard to dive down into the depths of, say, the latest harry potter or sue grafton or michael pollan when you have a hive of hornets buzzing around your head. the constant requests/tantrums/fights/need for attention RIGHT NOW kind of kill the ability to follow a complicated story line.
i think that is why i have embraced crossword puzzles with such ferocity: they are perfect for my adhd lifestyle. ten minutes, five minutes, a passing glance – any amount of time, no matter how small, can generate pleasure and keep the old neurons firing for one more day. i may put the milk in the cupboard or throw my keys in the trash or lose my sunglasses on top of my head (really, really and really), but at least i remember that a five-letter word for paper quantity is "quire."
1 comment:
Eventually, you get to read again!! Finally, now that mine are 13 & 11, I have more free time. Unfortunately, I spend more time online than reading.
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