"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who CAN'T read." Mark Twain

Today I am going to convert you to my favorite past time. Maybe I am preaching to the choir, but preach I will. If I had a day to myself (Yeah, right!) , I would most likely spend it READING----on a beach preferably.  It really is the most superior past time. No matter how old I get, how broken down my body becomes, how poor I am, how little companionship I have,  I can always engage in this, the king of all recreation.

I hear people say often, "I don't read." or "I don't like to read." To me this is like saying I don't breathe, I don't enjoy sleeping, I don't enjoy eating. You may think it extreme, but to be a well rounded, well grounded person, I really think you need to read something---quite often. To deny reading is to deny living a full and rich life. None of us will have the means or time to travel to every country, experience every culture, to be the fly on the wall in someone's unique experience. However, you can do all this and more with books.

The reasons to read are endless. Escape, Knowledge, Wisdom, Epiphany, Experience-----there are so very many reasons to lose yourself in between the pages of a book. There is a reason for every season of life. When I was in university I read to gain my degree. When I was newly married I read for enjoyment and because I had the time. When I was a young mother I read so I felt like I conversed with an adult or to escape the repetitiveness of my routine. Now, when I am lonely I can read to not feel alone. I can't wait for the next season when I will get back to more time to read.

I am so fortunate to have a couple of friends that feel the way I do about books. I have one particular friend who finishes an amazing book and then immediately comes running to give it to me. I do the same for her. I love that books are a principal part of our friendship.

To those parents out there, there is yet another reason to read---YOUR KIDS. For the last few years I have been tracking some information about reading with my junior high students. One of the most interesting pieces of information I've gathered is the impact of parents' reading habits on their children. The biggest influence was the father figure in the home. If the father read frequently, almost always the children would be readers. When it came to boys, this was true pretty much 99% of the time. Mothers have a big impact as well. Mothers seemed to have the largest impact on their daughters' reading habits. Students who reported that they NEVER saw their parents reading in almost every case were not readers themselves. Interesting stuff.

So what does all this mean? In short, I guess it means shut your computer off and go read a good book RIGHT NOW!