Constant Companions

Tonight Robin asked this, "What do you do as a couple or family or even on your own that is without distraction or outside influences? "

What a great question. This is my answer. Plus a story, of course.

Last night I had a date with my Mom for a card-making class. We had a great time together and ended the evening having a late dinner with Dad. The times when it's just the three of us are few and far between. A granddaughter requires a lot of time and conversation, you know. It was so wonderful to be with them minus the usual demands on my attention. We just sat around and talked and talked. And talked. Heaven.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey and Sloane were enjoying a night at home. When I got home he told me about their evening. The two of them had piled up on the couch together and read. Until bedtime. Jeffrey said, "Relyn, I know it sounds silly, but I've been waiting for this night since she was born."

I know just what he meant. Our family's best connections are when the three of us pile up in the living room to read. We often lay on top of and over-lapping each other. Heads in laps, ankles intertwined, holding hands... touching somehow. We read separate books and interrupt each other to read aloud the good parts. Or, to insist that someone else read aloud whatever they are laughing at. Sometimes we're all together and we're reading the same book. We take turns at being the narrator. Other times we all listen to the same book on tape. However we do it, we love to read together.

Books. Our constant companions. One of our steady joys.

And you? What are you reading this weekend?


Book stack by Girl Hula. Lawson's weekend book list: Sloane - Capitol Mystery series by Ron Roy. Relyn - For the Love of Old, Tallgrass, and a big pile of magazines. Jeffrey - three teen lit books for his grad school class. Family - Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary.