Knowledge

Daily Gratitude Year Four-Day 322: Today, I am grateful I know how to read.
(Text my journal prompt #17: What knowledge are you most grateful for?)

What knowledge am I most grateful for? I think that the knowledge that unlocks so many other doors is knowing how to read. I grew up hearing a slogan, "The more you read, the more you know." 

I read early. Mama was busy with April. Aunt Judy had the twins. I was probably bored and being curious by nature.. by the time I was four, I was reading. Reading made learning everything easier... except math. In my teens, Aunt Judy and I would trade books. 

Mom and I disagreed on the value of Dr. Suess.  I loved his rhythm and rhyme. She thought he was ridiculous. She bought me One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish, anyway. She gave me my first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Wooden Lady, and made time for the library. Mama struggled with reading in school. She didn't want that for her children.

I remember sitting on Dad's lap and sounding out words. For a man typically short on patience, he was infinitely patient as I figured out written code. A father's love stretched him beyond his nature. His favorite test of my skill was to read from the Bible. Back then - King James Version was the only version. It sounded foreign - but there was always praise for getting the words right, even if I didn't understand what they meant. 

As the oldest grandchild on Mama's side and my Lindgren cousins were a little older, I was surrounded by adults or older children. I didn't want to miss anything or get left out. Everyone around me could read - so I would read, too. If you could read, you would know things they didn't always tell kids.

As I grew, living on the isolation of a farm... reading transported me anywhere I wanted to go. Dad had a nearly quarter of a mile lane of baby evergreens that needed to be watered... and it was my job. So, I would water and read. Read and water. Those evergreen are now giant sentinels that make me smile every time I drive up the lane of "the homeplace". At the time, they were a pain, but an opportunity to read. 

Reading unlocks the door to libraries of knowledge. It is a key. Literacy is possibilities. 

This is a great place to insert one of my life verses:
“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. -Habakkuk 2:2

And, this is my verse of the day (this post was complete when I found it... God wink):

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."-Psalm 119:105
A word written down and meant to be shared is a beautiful thing. 

Today, I am grateful I know how to read