Beauty and The Books

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Strangely I have had a few questions about why have I never blogged before well I have in a way but that's for another post. In reality of things, I have been reading. When I say I love to read I mean it. I will find books that I cannot get enough of in my life.

My reading obsession is completely thanks to my mom. She was reading to me when she was three months pregnant. It was her way of calming herself and my older sister Elle Lena is barely a year and half older than me. When I was born mom swears that she said that music did nothing for me but she could put a audio book on and I would stop screaming. 

One of the first things I can remember was when no one would read to me and I got mad and stomp off. I remember sitting in the stairwell of our apartment and making up stories based on the pictures. I made my on little world built inside those pages. I was much like Matilda I finally managed to talk to my older brother into taking me to library and I would give him three dollars of my allowance to take me to the library. He only agreed because there was an arcade across from the library. 

I was four years old when I learned to read because I was sitting on a cushioned bench in the library when a lady approached me and asked was I really reading. I told her yes because in my little mind I was reading. She sat me down later (I would later find out in my life that she was the children's librarian) and started teaching me to really read and I was excited that many of my stories matched what I said. 

Now let's take a minute to appreciate the movie where I decided I was going to become a princess like most all other little girls. It was a movie that is still the love of my life today. This movie is one I can say all of it word for word...

Seriously I was obsessed with this scene. I was also obsessed when she went to the book store and swung around on the ladder. Books, seriously, are my life. Belle instantly became my favorite because she would read and read. 

I did start living a little more as I got older. I was a cheerleader except as soon as practice was over I would sit bundled up on the bleachers reading until someone came to pick me up. I was the girl that dumped her boyfriend when he didn't want to go to the release of another Harry Potter book. My parents got tired of books being everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean everywhere. My shelves were packed and I had started stacking them up in piles along my walls. 

Then came the rough part of my life and I started falling into depression. I lost a lot of my friends and I started drinking and smoking. I would read and for the first time in my life I would cry because of the happy ending. I should have realized it wasn't the books. Books had been my lifeline for so long. 

When I moved away from my parents and went to college things started getting better and I fell back in love with books. I felt comfort in the Seattle Public Library, which is pictured above (and that's my mom's picture of it.) and is pictured below with my pictures. I felt like I was on top of the world and didn't mind spending senseless hours curled up in a chair reading. 

Of course, when Kindle came out and I had a bookstore in my hands that became very dangerous for me. I went crazy. I was still depressed with things within in my family. I realized after hitting a rock bottom for me that I had to get away. My life was excellent minus my family situation, I had even graduated with my Masters early, so I decided to move to mom's home state, Alabama. 

Arriving in Huntsville, was culture shock for me. The library is big come one it's not 11 stories like I was used to back home in Huntsville. I was alone and I threw myself into drinking and reading. Not to mention I was smoking and was rarely leaving home. I was living off the money that my parents sent me. I finally got a job in my dream career as a teacher. My boss was the first one to reach out to me. She got me to quit drinking so much. She showed me that I could rent books from the Huntsville library.

Things have changed around here since I first settled down here. I have a house. I am not depressed at all. I still have the same job. I have excellent friends and my family has forgive and forgotten. Best of all, I have my own beast. He doesn't mind that I spend countless hours reading. The wonderful man even lets me read to him. I had to grow up some to realize my true potential in this world. But one fact remains, books have been by my side the entire taking me out of the reality of the depressing world into ones filled with magic and happy endings.