my drug of choice

my mom was a voracious reader in her later years........i couldn't keep her in books......but i never remember her reading during my younger years.....and she certainly was never a mother that read to her children. i grew up in the country....serious country. we had a school that taught all twelve grades in the same building (one that we walked to.....probably close to two miles one way!), a gas station/grocery store combination, and a fish camp. that was the extent of our community.......no fast food.....no library. that being the case...i wasn't turned on to books until i spent the weekend with a friend when i was maybe eight or nine years old. her mother took us to the library to check out books and it was love at first sight! i was hooked.......beverly cleary.........walter farley.......i became our school library's biggest fan. from that day i have always read.........anything..........cereal boxes! shampoo labels! i don't care.....i've got to read. if i had the money i've spent on books and magazines...............well....i'd be a rich woman! i can spend hours in a bookstore......lost in the heady smell of new books.......or a library........i never come out empty handed. i'm ashamed to even admit how many magazines i subscribe to. reading is my drug of choice..... add a cup of joe and a little something sweet to nibble ............heaven! reading gives me the same kind of high i experience when working in my art studio...or the garden.........if interrupted it takes a few seconds to clear my head enough to be in the moment. i've tried listening to books on tape but somehow for me it's just not the same. my eyesight has degraded significantly this past year.........i can't imagine a world without books.....i sure hope it never comes to that point. in the mean time i'll feed my habit as often as i can. i can't even remember the lady's name that got me those first books.......but i thank her with my whole heart!