On my first day of kindergarten, I cried because they didn't teach me how to read on the first day. I had such high expectations, yet my hopes were dashed when I got home later that day on which public education had decided to fail me. To me, the world of language was a marvelous, magical place full of mysteries and secrets that I could only unlock once I was able to learn the code that revealed words to me from seemingly random jumbles of letters. Reading was the key to the universe, and, once I had it, I was able to explore that very universe.
Someone like me can be labeled as many names: nerdy, quiet, or even obsessive when it comes to reading, but I prefer the term bookworm. If you're anything like me, then I know that you can relate to some of these things.
1. When you first discovered your love for reading and devoured any reading material in sight
2. When it's four in the morning and you've been reading since the afternoon, but the book is too good to put down
3. When your life is too busy and you don't have time to read, so you're basically dying inside
4. When you're so engrossed in a book that the world around you completely fades away
5. When all of your classmates are complaining about the assigned reading, but you read all of the books two years ago.
6. When the book you're reading goes in a completely different direction than you thought it would, but it only makes you more obsessed with the story.
7. When a character that you had grown to love throughout their story dies and you're left just sitting there, trying to fully comprehend the words you just read, and praying that they aren't true.
8. When you have a large pile of books waiting to be read, but that book you spotted in Target looks interesting so you manage to justify buying it.
9. When you find a *really* good book, then find out that it's part of a series/trilogy
10. When you have to wait for the next book in a series to come out
11. When the next book in a series *finally* comes out, but you don't remember any of the characters or background information, or plot...wait, what was the title of the first book again?
12. When your friends want to hang out, but you already made plans that involve you, a book, and maybe some tea or hot chocolate.
13. When life gets a little too hectic, but you know that you can escape to a whole other world by just opening a cover and turning some pages.
For me, reading isn't just a pastime, it's a lifestyle. Reading is comfort food after a bad day. Reading is an escape. Reading is life blood.
Reading is home.
