Backseat Ramblings

Marley and I were sitting in the drive-through in one of our (read: MY) favorite places to eat.  OK, it was Steak N Shake.  Seemingly out of the blue she asked me, "Mama, do you want to be a policeman, a boy, or a girl?".  I was thinking I needed to carefully measure my response, so I said, "Well, honey, I think I'd like to be a girl today.". 

Then I looked in the backseat and noticed she was looking at this...

...and a whole host of thoughts and memories came crashing into my head.  The first one was how brilliant my 2 1/2 year old daughter was to ask me a question that gave me three options for a response.  Then the teacher in me remembered that many well-stimulated and loved (doted-on) 2 1/2 year olds can do that.  Don't get me wrong... my kid's still brilliant!  :)  She must've gotten that from her dad.

Then came the fond memories of sitting on my Papaw Payne's lap on the davenport for hours on end as a child.  He would patiently read the little descriptions of the scenes on each page, including the questions, and quietly listen while I went on and on about what MUST be happening on those pages.  He'd tirelessly tell us the name of each and every item on each and every page and help us think of why there might be a tin can next to the goat next to the barn.  Hmmm...

Which led me to the continued tradition of listening to my parents read chapter books aloud to us all of our lives, from our very young childhood through the time we left the nest.  I remember listening after lunchtime as Mom read the entire Little House on the Prairie series or Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, probably more than once.  Through her voice, and in the conversations that followed, these books and the happenings in them came alive to me, and I couldn't wait till the next chapter, then the next.  In the evenings Dad would read different books.  The Chronicles of Narnia springs to mind as one of my favorite series.  I remember coming home as a college student from my factory job, hurrying to get lunch packed for the next day and shower and chores done, because I knew I was so tired that I was going to fall asleep on the floor listening to Dad reading.  But there was no other place I wanted to be. 

Reading is the thing that transcends generations.  It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from.  If you've got a good book, and someone to share it with, you're golden.