It is back to school time, which is always a sad day in my house. I love the summer days with my daughters, and the time to have adventures. We spend a lot of time at the beach during the summer, which is the best place for me to set my imagination free. But I also love that my girls have time to read books for pleasure without deadlines. We spent a great deal of time with books these past couple of months, looking through some of my old favorites (which my girls are now old enough to read) and searching for new ones. Most often, we read together, escaping into the story side by side. Sometimes we read out loud and sometimes to ourselves. I find that it allows us to talk about the book as we go and really analyze what is happening in the story. It's also a way for our family to share something really special together.
Escaping into a book is the best way to give my brain a moment of freedom from news reports that break my heart and pressures of being a single mom. Books are my secret weapon. For after reading a few good pages, I am recharged and ready to face whatever is ahead of me. Now that my girls are back to school, they have activities and homework and school events to attend. My goal is to make sure we still have those moments together as a family to escape into a story--and turn reading a book into a memory that will last a lifetime.
D.L.
