A Good Spot
I mentioned in a previous post about my trip to Florida for a conference. One free afternoon I wandered around looking for a good spot to read a book. (Okay, it wasn’t exactly a free afternoon. I just couldn’t find any conference sessions that excited me during that time so I made it free. I really did go to most of the conference events.) Anyway, I found my reading spot here in these colorful chairs. I sat in the left chair because the afternoon sun shone too brightly between the beams of the glass enclosed atrium. There’s nothing more irritating than staring into a blinding sun while trying to read. (Well, there are probably several things more irritating, but I would put “sun in my eyes” somewhere at the top of the list.)
I love to read, particularly fiction, and think it’s important to take the time to do what I enjoy. I’m one of those nerds you see in the restaurants occasionally sitting by himself in the corner dribbling ketchup on the clean white pages of the book for that day. Those moments I take for myself are rejuvenating. For me, it’s a time to separate myself from the events of my world and allow my mind to wander over and through an alternate world. Usually, the alternate world is worse than any current world I might live. For example, the book I’m reading now is about the inquisitions of the 13th and 14th centuries. Innocent people were slaughtered in the name of the Church. Stories like these produce in me a thanksgiving for the world I live in and the freedoms I have to believe openly and in ways that may not always agree with others.
Some may argue that my reclusion into fiction is nothing better than escapism, an unwillingness to embrace my own life struggles. Perhaps that is part of it. I would argue, however, that we all find our own ways to manage the stresses of our lives. Some of those ways are productive; others are counterproductive. Although reading takes me away for a period of time, when I close the book I always return to my current situation. I return with renewed energy to embrace what is before me. I return with with new found empathy for the struggles of others around me and for the common experience of humankind through the ages. I return with increased thanksgiving for what is mine to live.
Join me in taking time to read a good book today. Or if that’s not your thing, take the time to do what you enjoy. You and those you love will benefit from it.
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I don’t know why but I absolutely am drawn to this picture. This is the kind that you would love to have framed on your wall. I remember thinking that the first time I saw your blog. You are very talented with your camera big brother!