"I had a mother who read to me"

This is odd. It's 7:30 and I'm the only one awake! I just put Baby Girl on the bus and the boys are still out cold. I'm going to try to enjoy my little bit of peace and quiet.

Baby Girl and I are reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe right now. She seems to be enjoying it. I'm loving it.

When I was 4 and my mom was expecting Bubba, she read to me constantly (it seemed). Our TV blew up in an electrical storm when I was 3 and we didn't get another one until Bubba was old enough for Sesame Street and Mr.Rogers (who I miss even though I didn't really show much interest in him as a child). That left me (an only child at the time) a stay-at-home-mom all to myself. That winter she read me all the Little House on the prairie books and all 7 of the Chronicles of Narnia. To me it seems like a momentous task, reading all that to a 4 year old. At the time it seemed perfectly normal.

Mama and I would climb up on her bed and she would prop herself up on this big Mustard Yellow corduroy pillow. I would squirm all over the bed while she read until I'd finally settle down on Daddy's pillow next to her.

I can remember crying when Laura's dog died. I hid my face in the pillow so Mama wouldn't know I was crying. After all it was only a story. Of course she noticed and gave me a tissue and said we could stop reading if I wanted to. I didn't want to stop.

I remember her explaining to me that Aslan was a picture of Jesus and Edmund was just like us. Aslan died to save Edmund just like Jesus died to save us. This was amazing to me. She didn't explain it to me until after we were finished reading it and I remember thinking, "How did she know that? I thought he was just a lion!"

I remember loving that Laura's dad called her Half-Pint (I know Ragged always wanted her dad do call her that too). And that they played Bear in the Little House in the Big Woods. I was terrified when the wolves would howl outside their cabin and when the Indians came into the house while Pa was gone. I wanted a rag doll just like Laura's. When Laura wanted her hair to look like Mary's I commiserated. And when the girls cut bangs, I begged my mother for bangs.

I loved Mr.Tumnus and wanted to try Turkish Delight (although I was convinced it was something like meatballs). The witch scared me senseless and Aslan was enthralling. I wanted a bow and arrows just like Susan's and tried to find Narnia in all the closets at my house.

Years later Mama read Narnia to Bubba and Princess, but it just wasn't the same. I didn't get as involved. I was a teenager and there were things much more important on my mind. I was more concerned with boys and teasing my bangs to great heights. I was struggling with Chemistry and French. I didn't have time for the Kings and Queens of Cair Paravel. I thought I was too old for Prince Caspian and his adventures.

Now that Baby Girl is old enough I can go back and visit with her. I see it all through her eyes or really hear it all through her ears. I'm reading The Magician's Nephew with Reading Ragged and it's amazing how much is coming back to me after 26 years. I can't wait to read to her about Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary, and Baby Grace. That's next.

Strickland Gillian once wrote:
You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be-
I had a mother who read to me.

Thanks, Mama. You instilled a love of reading in me that has taken me places I could never have otherwise gone. When life gets overwhelming I can always find escape and now I can take my daughter with me. I love You!