Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Sanity of Books

On January 2nd of 1996 I blew out my knee skiing. On July 2 of 1996 I had exploratory surgery to determine why it wasn't getting better, and it turned into an ACL reconstruction (a story for another time).

That summer encompassed the months between my senior year of high school, which I'd spent at the local community college, and the beginning of my sophomore year in college (I think this is where E says something like I'm wicked smah-t, with the Boston accent, of course). I spent the whole summer hobbling around my mom's in-ground pool with a calf to thigh brace on my leg, picking off dead day lily blooms and reading. While it was painful, it was also great. I had so much time to just be, not to have to worry about anything other than getting my daily physical therapy in. And I read. A lot.

I've always read a lot. In high school it was fairly common for me to read a couple of 300+ page books a day. Its amazing to open a book and escape into a different world. And figure out what to do about other peoples problems. Its amazing how much perspective you have when its not you. That summer I was taking a dozen books out of the library (well, the books by mail, same difference) and in a week I'd be sending back for more. Everybody should have a summer like that (minus the knee surgery).

Anyway, lately I've been reading a lot again. Not as much as that summer. But a lot for me now. I finished a 1000 page book in 2 days. And I feel so much more relaxed than I have in a while. Now the only problem is I'm out of books. Guess I'll have to go to the bookstore...