Story time

Stopping at Half Price Books on the way home from visiting our kids in the Metroplex area, I gave everyone 15-20 minutes of book shopping. This is a typical event for us and we each went different directions searching for books in our interest base. For me that involves a few minutes in the collectible books area, a few minutes in history, a few in mystery, and some time in the fiction section. But my book interests are pretty much on hold these days due to taking a full load of classes as I work toward my Master of Business Administration. With this in mind, I still enjoyed walking around the store seeing book titles, smelling the musty smell, seeing the stacks, and marveling at the creative spirit that sparked all these ideas around me. I just really love books.

As I neared the mystery section I saw a man holding a Vince Flynn book. He turned to his wife who was walking toward him and asked her if she had read that particular book. I am not a big Vince Flynn fan, finding his books unnecessarily violent and a little weak in characterization, but I was curious about her answer to his question. She continued walking toward him while holding hands with her 3 year old daughter who was dressed in a pretty little blue dress. The daughter walked along and although unable to see the books higher than her little head, she obviously knew she was surrounded by books. She said to her mother, in a small, sweet voice, "Is this story time?" Her mother said, "It does look like story time doesn't it?" The lady then told her husband that she had read that Vince Flynn book and did not care for it that much. Later I saw the lady with the little girl in the children's section about to read her a story.

Oh, do I remember story time! Mom and Dad would read me a story at home which I loved (I think Dad actually embellished many of the stories written and turned them into his own creations!), but they would also take me down to the local library for story time. At a young age, I learned to love story time and love the musty smell of books. I also learned to respect the creative spirit that sparked all the knowledge and joy around me. My brother, who became a writer, and I have loved books all our lives and in turn instilled the same love of stories and books to our children.

As I walked through the Half Price Books and thought about Story Time, I found myself thankful for the countless stories that exist in books and for the blessing of imagination and creativity. And thankful for parents who taught me the value of great stories, stories that still have meaning today and stories that have stayed with me forever. I have passed these same stories to my children who will likely pass them on to their children along with a love for books. So I want to say to the little girl who asked if it were story time--"Yes, it is ALWAYS story time!"