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I’m afraid that I am going to have to give up reading. When I’m hooked on a book the first thing that falls through the cracks is keeping house. And to be honest, my housekeeping skills aren’t anything to brag about even when I don’t have my head buried in a book.
When I’m deep into a good book the world around me ceases to exist. That is, until the world around me starts to smell like a hamster cage from the piles of laundry, the stinky dog, and overflowing garbage can. Who knew reading was such a filthy habit?
The situation has gotten especially bad since I discovered George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series. I am enthralled. The man is a genius. As soon as I finished the first book I zipped off to the library for books two and three. Each thousand page treatise in the series takes George about five years to write. I finished the entire four book series in a single 20 day reading marathon.
I could have done it in less if it weren’t for the pesky husband who enjoys adult conversation and the perpetually hungry kids. Families can be so demanding.
But reading is good, right? It sets a wonderful example for the children. (I do it for them, of course.) So where do you draw the line? Is it when you find yourself hiding in the bathroom just to finish a chapter? Or is it when you secretly feed your kids a kibble augmented casserole just so you don’t have to go to the grocery store?
For me, life takes on a “happy glow” when I have a book in hand. It is an entirely different experience when I don’t. If I can escape into an alternate universe where dust bunnies and dirty grout don’t exist, why on earth wouldn’t I go there at every opportunity? (And stay there for as long as possible.)
Reality, on the other hand, is a messy place filled with husbands who never finish their “to do” lists, hormonal teenagers (e.g. stinky AND grumpy), and dogs that roll in squirrel guts immediately after being bathed. Books let you forget all that, if only for a few hours.
The problem is that I have now finished the last book in the awesome “Game of Thrones” series. Withdrawal has set in. I now have to wait FIVE more years for the next installment. How will I last? How will I survive?
I suppose that I can spend the next few years catching up on my cleaning, poisoning hapless rodents, and preparing delicious homemade soups from scratch for my family. I could also, conceivably, rub my husband’s feet after a hard day’s work.
There is so much I could do with all this extra time…
On second thought, the library is FULL of books. It will just take a few minutes for me to drive over there and see what’s new. My husband’s feet may have to take a rain check.
And right after I get back, I swear that I will give the dog another bath.
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