Learning is life

I love to learn. I always have. Reading has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Back in elementary school, I was that kid who became visibly excited when the new Scholastic book catalog was distributed. I remember running home with my catalog, all excited, waiting for my mom to get home to let me know how much i could spend from it.

I'll always be grateful to her for being very liberal with the book orders, allowing me to wear the coveted crown of "best reader" and "biggest nerd". I was proud and happy to wear both metaphoric tiaras in my class.

The best days were the days when the orders came in. I, of course, had the distinction of being the nerd with the biggest stack, and I'd run home eagerly, savoring the sweet anticipation awaiting me.

Whether it be a book of jokes, an educational tome on dinosaurs or horses or penguins, anything by Judy Blume or Laura Ingalls Wilder or a Happy Days sticker book featuring the 'Fonz', I was ecstatic every time.

The hardest thing was choosing what to read first. I generally hit the "foofy" stuff first, the sticker and puzzle books, then it was time to find a favorite reading spot and disappear for awhile. I'm a fast reader, so I always ran out of books well before the next order catalog arrived.

This ritual and all it entailed have stayed with me my whole life. I am still an avid reader, and I still buy sticker books, especially dinosaur sticker books.

I'll always be grateful to my Mom, for indulging me with my habit, and making books and reading so vital in my life.

When you read, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anybody you desire. It's a round-trip ticket to everything, and a chance to never stop learning. I could not recommend it more.