Wednesday, January 28, 2009

an english assignment

I guess I could say the meaning of my life comes from my religion, I'm sure that's true for lots of people. I think that would be boring and barely scratch the surface though.

For me meaning comes from things that even the people in my family find weird. Such as from the sound a hardcover book makes the first time it's opened. The insane excitement I feel when I open a book I've been waiting for for months or even years. It's the incredible sense of loss when that book ends and I know there's at least a two year wait for the next one. The way really old books smell like wonderful memories and time well spent. It's found in the way it felt to open my twenty five cent copy of Pollyanna and find an old, old four leaf clover and the author obituary and the hours spent thinking about the person who put them in there.

It's in the satisfaction of owning more books than I have room for. The way owning a first edition Sabatini novel makes me feel. It's finally owning a copy of a book I've loved for years. It's the guilt at writing in a book, any book and in the feeling of joy that I get from reading what other people have written in books.

It's walking into a used book store and finding that out of print classic most people have never heard of and don't care about.

It's the way I fell when I read any book that's more than a hundred years old. That feeling of being connected to a long gone past. It's feeling that by reading those old books that for the few minutes hours or months it takes me to read that classic, the person who wrote it comes alive and lives within my thoughts.

It's knowing the story behind the To You dedication in the front of Daddy-Long-Legs. It's memorizing most of Poe's Alone.

It's when my grandparents give me free run of their bookstore or my grandfather cleans out his collection of books on Egypt and gives them to me.

It's my grandmother giving me her brother's rosary and prayer book, even though I'm not Catholic.

It's my dad trading a gallon of maple syrup for the huge Emerson Drive concert poster that's big enough to cover the entire wall of my bedroom, just because he knew that the thought of both of them being thrown away made me sick.

It's when my mother, my sister and I spend ten hours in the car driving to a concert, just so I could see the band one more time.

It's listening to my brother and sister sing along with the radio in perfect harmony.

It's watching my older half brother marry the woman he loves. In my best friend asking me to be her Maid of Honor.

It's the way my pet turkey can tell me from my sister. It's the crazy one footed rooster that has a bad attitude and tips like a drunken sailor when he walks.

And it's when the house cat sits in my lap and bites at my hands when I have the audacity to type or turn a page. That's what gives my life meaning.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is an awesome post! :)

I love the stuff you found in Pollyanna. :)

Btw, have you ever heard of/participated in Bookcrossing? http://www.bookcrossing.com/

It's awesome, and I've found and distributed several books on my university campus. :D

Anonymous said...

Wow, great post! I can relate to a lot of those things.
Your pets sound like fun, lol.

The meaning of life is kind of a tough topic to start the year on! I hope you do well. =)

Breezey375 said...

Holly thanks. My only problem with it is that we have to read it aloud during class. YIKES!
No I haven't heard of it I may have to look into it.

Jennifer- thanks. My pets are great.
Yeah it is I can tell you one thing I'm not reading all of it aloud during class!

Dani said...

Beautiful Breezey! You will go far in life with such a wonderful personality. :)

threecollie said...

You did it again, even in the second reading...brought tears to the corners of my eyes

Breezey375 said...

Dani- I don't even know how to respond to that. Thanks.

Mom- just getting even for all the times you've done that to me.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I see what you mean, I wouldn't enjoy reading something like that aloud in class either, even though it was written AS homework.

Although, come to think of it, it would make a good meme! :P

Breezey375 said...

Yeah especially when I have to be an individual and write not about my family but about my books.

Yeah it would.

Brooke said...

Awesome post! Also, awesome English assignment. I'm pretty sure none of mine were this cool.
What IS the meaning behind the dedication in 'Daddy-Long-Legs'? I love that book to pieces but I didn't know that there was a special meaning to that.

Breezey375 said...

Thanks. I'm surprised so many people liked it.
The dedication is simply "To You" the author was having an affair with a married man. His wife (19teens) wouldn't give him a divorce. So had she dedicated the book to him... She later married him in her late 30's and died in childbirth after less then two years of marriage. Her daughter survived (I think). Also interesting side note.. She was Mark Twain's grandniece!
I'm so glad I finally found someone else who loves this book. Have you read the sequel? "Dear Enemy"? Not as good but still amazing!

Anonymous said...

Ooh that's quite scandalous! I always assumed it was just to the reader, whoever it might be. The real story is far more interesting.
It took me a few years after I was given it (by my grandma, actually, I think it was one of her favourites... I should ask her) to read it and I think a couple of years to really read it (I was probably about 13), but I love Judy now. I've heard of the sequel but not read it. *adds to ever-growing reading list*

Breezey375 said...

I read it when I was around 11. I loved Judy from the start. And Daddy-Long-Legs... The mysterious older rich man... Oh I just loved it.
And yes very scandalous. Originally I thought that too but then I read a bio on her and voila!
You should definitely ask her. I never thought to ask my grandmother (either one) if they'd read it. I probably should ask the one that's still around.