Reading

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”

     – George R.R. Martin (b. 1948), author responsible for “A Song of Ice and Fire,” the precursor to Game of Thrones 

GOT changed my view of modern TV, inasmuch as I went from “It’s a complete waste of time,” to “I can’t wait for the next episode of…”  First it was Thrones.  Now it’s Yellowstone.

But that’s not the point.

Last week, 52 of us, including 17 high school seniors who completely restored my faith in the next generation, our group included The Youngest of The Three and her two closest friends.

But that’s not the point.

It was an amazing trip, full of sun, deep-sea-fishing, 4x the calories one should consume in each day, fireside parent chats late into the evening, and a ton of time reading.

But that’s not the point.

The three 15-year-olds maximized their time in the sun and sea, and pool and spa, and they did girlie things until later-than-they-thought-we’d-allow.  And, they each read books.  Like, for multiple hours each day.  They even talked about the books they were reading.  Without touching their phones.

I think that’s the point.

Reading unleashes something in us, and when we share what we read, it unleashes something bigger in more than just us.

Toward the end of the trip, I started a book recommended by my friend, “big brother” and attorney, Jim.  He said it was amazing. He undersold it.  It’s impacting me in a way I can’t begin to describe, yet.  But the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Daily Diff’s will take a shot at it.

Reading makes us better.

That’s really the point.

Get your Amazon account pulled up because I think you’re going to want to buy it.  I hope I do this book justice — but even if I fail, reading it is making a humongous difference for me.

It was a good Spring Break.  Strike that.  It was a really, very, very good Spring Break.  Thanks for giving me the time to do some relaxing.  And some reading.