1 Corinthians 11:13 "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
Society at large has accepted this missive from Paul, though I think in ways he didn't necessarily mean when he spoke it. In fact, we are endeavoring to remove childish things whether one is a child or not. Why is it such an awful thing for a child to be a child? Somehow we're morphing back to the mentality of ancestors like the Egyptians who saw children as small adults and expected them to act as such. Gone are the carefree days of youth when you could battle pirates or go on expeditions like Indiana Jones. No. None of that now. Now we must prepare our children for their future lives as adults before they even understand what something like college is.
If you think I'm being dramatic that's your right and this might be the time for you to find another blog post to read. I mean no disrespect but I'm not one to apologize for the way I feel about this.
Now, the molding of infants into small scale adults isn't really that new, it's been developed and refined over the last decade or so and as much as I disagree with it, today I'm mourning something else.
It's not uncommon to hear people my age griping about the garbage that's passing for cartoons and tv shows these days [seriously, the '90s were the best] and yes, Pokemon and Sabrina the Teenage Witch will probably always make me reminisce. But time passes and things like tv shows come and go like fads, each generation will have their own whether those that have gone before approve of them or not [coughjustingbiebercough]. This is something I realized fairly quickly, if somewhat grudgingly, at a fairly young age as most shows have a short enough life span for even a child to notice [whatever happened to Digimon?!]. At the time I didn't spend too long crying over canceled shows. There were too many other exciting and captivating things to hold my attention in turn. One of the best was the evolution and eventual explosion of technology, specifically the computer and then the internet [I can remember the rudimentary nature of having only a few sites to visit. Can you remember an internet without Myspace, hotmail, or, gasp, Facebook?]. Such an exciting new piece of the world that opened more doors for exploration as we grew together, though the technology at an admittedly more rapid pace than myself, haha.
At ages when the world held obvious wonder and promises of hidden treasures found through digging in the dirt and creating the pictures in your mind with crayons; times when learning was still thrilling for the simple reason that it was all new and we were like sponges I never imagined that the inventions and innovations that came into my life would someday be used to remove my first great love.
For as far as I can remember back my mother read to us. Our bookshelves were always overflowing with any range of reading material and many a night before bedtime was spent sprawled out across my parents' bed, siblings jostling for as much space as they could conquer before settling in to hear whatever story my mother had plucked from the shelf that night. I can still remember bits and pieces of those stories and those nights are some of my favorite memories. The people and worlds that were introduced to me this way made me hungry for more and once I was able, I could often be found spread out across the upstairs landing, surrounded by a dozen or so books, reading away the afternoon.
I quickly associated myself with Elizabeth Brown from The Library by Sara Stewart [which I read almost every time I visited my neighbors who owned it] who has such an affinity for books that she spends all of her money on them, reading them constantly and even managing to walk and read at once [something my teachers frowned upon]. By the time I was in high school I didn't feel properly myself unless I was in the middle of some book or other.
As the years went by and my literary tastes grew and changed I accepted and embraced those technological changes that came my way, especially those related to music. I had no qualms with giving up cassette tapes [though vinyls will always hold a special place in my heart]. It all seemed like smooth sailing until the first announcement that books too would be making the switch to digital. The past few years have brought us things like the ebook and Kindle, devices that definitely store more digital books in a much lighter package which is a convenience I'll never argue and yet it's something I'll never understand. For me, a book just isn't a book if I can't feel the smooth cover in my hands and turn the whispering pages with my fingers. The smell of books is something I'm so used to I can't imagine my life without it and I can't picture the same satisfaction coming from clicking a few buttons as there is in opening a new book for the first time and hearing the spine crackle.
All I could do was shake my head at those who attached themselves to this new innovation, unable to understand how reading in such a medium could ever be more attractive than its paper parentage. I was moderately mystified but not overly concerned, though I didn't like the dark clouds lingering on the distant horizon, because I could still get books the way I like them [the best way]. The nearest Barnes and Noble was 25 minutes from my house and many a high school afternoon was spent perusing the stacks with my friends, relishing the pure volume of pages just waiting to be read.
Even as the digital book movement grew I always believed that there would always be a place for the printed word even if those places became somewhat less common. Now I'm not sure.
I was informed this morning that Borders is officially closing their doors. I didn't grow up with Borders, only being introduced a few years ago, but the loss of any book store that offered so much is an utter tragedy for me. We've already pretty effectively phased written letters and cards out of our daily lives, I can't stand to see books follow that path.
Books aren't so much as a simple part of my childhood, they are an integral part of my life and it feels instinctively that if we lose printed, physical books part of me will be lost with them.
I can't change the tide of society and change but that doesn't mean I have to follow it. If I'm nothing else, I'm stubborn and I'm determined now to get my hands on as many books as I can even if it means I eat nothing but air for the next decade. And I won't lie, part of me wishes I could destroy the servers used for digitized books, lol.
IN OTHER NEWS
Here's a picture and a video to send you off:
Don't worry, even I can't go on forever like that, it's too depressing to dwell on for long.
Anyway, the summer marches on. Lately it's been deathly hot which isn't surprising but it's also been incredibly muggy which is. It's never muggy in Utah. I think the end may be near, haha.
It's been entirely too long since my last post because, as a friend said, you seem to stop writing when life actually gets interesting. True enough as I've missed reporting on Tim's family reunion as well as Chelsea's wedding. Shall we catch up?
Tim's family reunion, as predicted, was fabulous. I had a total blast riding his parents' recumbent bicycles around in a tour of the neighborhood as well as driving in Tim's old pickup truck that was his constant companion in high school. He put more miles on that truck with all his nighttime drives than I'll probably ever put on a car in a whole lifetime but I can completely understand why he loves it so much. We were both sad that he couldn't bring it back with him.
I know I say this all the time, but I really do love Tim's family. They're just so much fun to be around even when Abigail begins to burst randomly and inexplicably into tears. ; P
The one downside was the limited amount of sleep we got which proved to be unfortunate as the next week we wasted no time in getting ourselves to California and jumping right into Chelsea's wedding festivities.
It was cool to be on the west coast for the first time in my life even if my only look at the Pacific was through a plane window. It was great to see Chelsea again and Zac too. The following days were crazy and chalk full of scrambling, mis-communication [also something families do. lol], near-death experiences [5 lane highways and a distracted dad do not mix], and the rare moment to talk. Everyone was a-flurry the whole time we were there and all the hard work and generosity of Zac's ward totally paid off. The wedding and receptions were fantastic [even if I managed to sob all over the end portion of the ring ceremony].
After sitting in a plane terminal for almost 5 hours, Tim and I finally found our way home again the Saturday after the nuptials. Back to regular life, back to work, lol.
Finally, July allowed us to schedule with the temple so there's no turning back now right? haha : P
Tim and I have also been working on a wedding website that will make getting details and things a little easier to access and will hopefully help us avoid the awkward facebook cliche of address pooling. With his now being full time at Bugged Out [the extermination company he's working for now. Finally done with Office Depot and all their nonsense] it's been hard to find time together, much less to sit down and hammer things out but we're managing and I'm am alternately grateful and grudging of the December date which gives me more time to plan but more time to wait as well. I can manage to find a paradox in anything can't I?
We've had a few weeks of normal, if mundane, work and life but times are about to pick up again. My sister is flying out to Utah this weekend to spend a few days with me and I have so many things I want to do with her, including shopping and movies and, my favorite, temple attendance. There are so many beautiful temples in my area that I can't help but share them with her.
Next Tuesday will also see the arrival of my older brother and his girlfriend who none of us have met yet. I'm excited to get to know her and see how they're getting on. We'll have one night before we make a bee-line for Arizona's eastern mountains and our family reunion. I haven't been to a family reunion since I was about 14 so I'm a little apprehensive. I've never been terribly close to my mother's family simply due to distance and those that I have gotten to know better since being out west for school won't be in attendance because their oldest son is getting married. So I'll miss them, but I am excited to be able to introduce Tim to my family as I've seen so much of his. I hope he likes them.
If nothing, the drive itself should be eventful with 5 people in a five-seater car. Gets everyone nice and personal right off the bat, lol.
Alright, I think that's probably long enough don't you think? [don't tell me the truth, that it was an incredibly long and unnecessary post, just nod okay?] Anyway, I hope, for whoever reads this, that your life is going well and you're still able to appreciate the little things like clouds and the smell of rain : )
Anyway, the summer marches on. Lately it's been deathly hot which isn't surprising but it's also been incredibly muggy which is. It's never muggy in Utah. I think the end may be near, haha.
It's been entirely too long since my last post because, as a friend said, you seem to stop writing when life actually gets interesting. True enough as I've missed reporting on Tim's family reunion as well as Chelsea's wedding. Shall we catch up?
Tim's family reunion, as predicted, was fabulous. I had a total blast riding his parents' recumbent bicycles around in a tour of the neighborhood as well as driving in Tim's old pickup truck that was his constant companion in high school. He put more miles on that truck with all his nighttime drives than I'll probably ever put on a car in a whole lifetime but I can completely understand why he loves it so much. We were both sad that he couldn't bring it back with him.
I know I say this all the time, but I really do love Tim's family. They're just so much fun to be around even when Abigail begins to burst randomly and inexplicably into tears. ; P
The one downside was the limited amount of sleep we got which proved to be unfortunate as the next week we wasted no time in getting ourselves to California and jumping right into Chelsea's wedding festivities.
It was cool to be on the west coast for the first time in my life even if my only look at the Pacific was through a plane window. It was great to see Chelsea again and Zac too. The following days were crazy and chalk full of scrambling, mis-communication [also something families do. lol], near-death experiences [5 lane highways and a distracted dad do not mix], and the rare moment to talk. Everyone was a-flurry the whole time we were there and all the hard work and generosity of Zac's ward totally paid off. The wedding and receptions were fantastic [even if I managed to sob all over the end portion of the ring ceremony].
After sitting in a plane terminal for almost 5 hours, Tim and I finally found our way home again the Saturday after the nuptials. Back to regular life, back to work, lol.
Finally, July allowed us to schedule with the temple so there's no turning back now right? haha : P
Tim and I have also been working on a wedding website that will make getting details and things a little easier to access and will hopefully help us avoid the awkward facebook cliche of address pooling. With his now being full time at Bugged Out [the extermination company he's working for now. Finally done with Office Depot and all their nonsense] it's been hard to find time together, much less to sit down and hammer things out but we're managing and I'm am alternately grateful and grudging of the December date which gives me more time to plan but more time to wait as well. I can manage to find a paradox in anything can't I?
We've had a few weeks of normal, if mundane, work and life but times are about to pick up again. My sister is flying out to Utah this weekend to spend a few days with me and I have so many things I want to do with her, including shopping and movies and, my favorite, temple attendance. There are so many beautiful temples in my area that I can't help but share them with her.
Next Tuesday will also see the arrival of my older brother and his girlfriend who none of us have met yet. I'm excited to get to know her and see how they're getting on. We'll have one night before we make a bee-line for Arizona's eastern mountains and our family reunion. I haven't been to a family reunion since I was about 14 so I'm a little apprehensive. I've never been terribly close to my mother's family simply due to distance and those that I have gotten to know better since being out west for school won't be in attendance because their oldest son is getting married. So I'll miss them, but I am excited to be able to introduce Tim to my family as I've seen so much of his. I hope he likes them.
If nothing, the drive itself should be eventful with 5 people in a five-seater car. Gets everyone nice and personal right off the bat, lol.
Alright, I think that's probably long enough don't you think? [don't tell me the truth, that it was an incredibly long and unnecessary post, just nod okay?] Anyway, I hope, for whoever reads this, that your life is going well and you're still able to appreciate the little things like clouds and the smell of rain : )
Here's a picture and a video to send you off:
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