Memory Lane

I have a lousy memory (hence one of the reasons I keep this blog – so I can have a written record of my kids’ childhood, since I can’t reliably recall their birth dates, let alone their antics!).  But one of my strongest memories from early childhood is reading my first chapter book independently.  I don’t know what the title was, but I think it had something to do with hunting for treasure.  I remember laying on the couch in the living room happily turning page after page, and I can vaguely envision myself finishing the book in near darkness as the sun set outside our large picture window.  As I have thought back on that memory from time to time, I didn’t understand how I could have been reading in the dark – I wondered if my memory was playing tricks on me.  That is, until the other day, when I walked into our family room in the late afternoon and saw Becky lying on the couch, happily reading her first independent chapter book in a rapidly darkening room.  I had to stop myself from turning on a light to help her see –  I’d let her memory think back fondly on her dusky book reading…or if she has trouble remembering the evening she first lost herself in the private world of a story, she’ll now have it recorded here!