My intended summer read became my favorite fall accessory. After a couple months of waiting and waiting for my library hold and then schlepping it around with me for another couple months, I’ve finally returned The Most Fun We Ever Had. It almost feels like it’s been the 50 years that this book spans. Thank you Miami-Dade Public Library for kindly extending while so many patiently waited in line like I did.
This is not a book review. It’s more like a reflection of time passed and an expression of thanks. I read this book wherever and whenever I could (anywhere and anytime I could fit in a page or two): fighting sleep at night, distracting me from insomnia, holding for customer service, waiting at dance class, finding grace while my favorite 4-year-old found something to watch on tv at 6:30 AM on a Sunday morning. I admit I was even a bit disappointed when the eye doctor was ready to see me right away. For the first time, I was looking forward to having to wait. I loved, I liked it, I laughed, I cried. Most of all, I appreciate Claire Lombardo‘s book, BECAUSE it:
- kept my newly set monthly reading goal going (after a multiyear hiatus/excuse of being too distracted by life to read),
- led to my children seeing me read something other than my phone,
- created (short but sweet) moments for my kids and I to read our books together,
- pulled me away from to-do lists and mindless tv,
- toned the arms a bit, carrying around a nearly 600-page story
- reinforced the golden rules, lessons and policies of the library (I don’t deny that someone may have said: “Mommy, your book is almost overdue, and it’s not nice that you haven’t finished it. Someone else is waiting for it!”), and
- made me feel like a grown up who remembered that she loves books.
Thank you, Ms. Lombardo, for the juicy read. Thank you, public library, for the sympathetic staff. And thank you in advance to my December author for giving me something good to dive into over winter break. It would be horrible timing for the momentum of my thus-far five-month reading streak to come to a halting stop upon the start of a brand new decade. Whether from the bookshelf, tablet or phone, here’s to us all escaping from our own real life page-turning dramedies into someone else’s written version this holiday season.
