One Page at a Time

Reading is something I really enjoy doing. It’s free. It can provide learning, expand knowledge, entertain, relax, provide escape, provides glimpses of other places and cultures, and so much more. I love those books that cause you to lose track of time; a story that draws you in so far you can’t put it down; a book in which the story stays with you and causes you to ponder some aspect of your own life. When you read you turn one page at a time and take the story in.

One page at a time.
Skipping a page may mean losing part of the story; losing an important detail; missing an important insight; missing a turning point or losing an opportunity to find a precious gem in the form of a thought.
Author Richard Paul Evans offered such a gem in the pages of one of his novels – “It is fortunate that we are allowed to turn just one page of our lives at a time.”
One page at a time.
I am so guilty of skipping pages in life.
Although it is Tuesday, I have turned to Friday’s page in which I have to get kid2 to the podiatrist, pick up kid1 on the way home, then kid1 takes kid2 to social gathering and proceeds to a meeting, meanwhile kid3 and I need to be home to greet a guest, kid1 needs to pick up kid2 and both go to youth event, I need to make phone calls to coordinate a weekend event for an organization then make sure guest has arrangements to get home – oh, that doesn’t include the regular home schedule of laundry, food, …….
Although it’s August, I have turned ahead to September when kid1 leaves for her first year of college and is facing saying goodbye to a few significant people in our lives. Kid2 needs to have his class schedule changed and has a new guidance counselor we’ve never worked with. Kid3 starts junior high and anxieties are coming out in him, friends and mom….
Although it is 2010, I have turned many pages ahead and cringe at the thought of having costs of more than one child in higher education, meeting the normal cost of living and wondering about those golden years after the collapse of social security under the demographic weight of the generation right before ours…. Or where will the kids be – who will they be with – will they find their way to survival and contentment….
One page at a time!
I want to savor the pages of life the way I savor those pages as I read…yep… one page at a time. Today I will be serenaded by the laughter of my kids. I will enjoy the smile and friendship of a neighbor’s greeting. I will notice the splash of color in my planters. I will be thankful for my washing machine. I will revel in the dinner table chatter. I will savor the smells as I make and bottle the home made blackberry syrup. I will enjoy the feel of the cool breeze as I sit under the wisteria arbor swinging on the porch swing reading a book one page at a time.