Reading and Me

I don't think this will come as any major surprise to you, reader: I love to read.



Since I was a young boy, I have loved reading. I would even go so far as to describe myself as a voracious reader - though perhaps not so much so as my grandfather or my grandmother. I remember before they moved from Midland, my grandmother would consistently claim she "read everything in the library." Though this was patently un-true, she did read all the time. She would sit in her burgundy recliner with a stack of books a foot tall next to her and read - almost without end. She usually read mystery novels, cookbooks (some of which I inherited after her death, with her notations in them) or thrillers, but she loved biographies - especially those about the Kennedy family. Her love of reading trickled down to my aunt and my mother, and then to me.



Another family member that contributed to my love of reading is my grandfather, who I call Dat. When I first met him, I was not allowed in his study - not because there were secrets in there, be because his books and magazines were piled so high that if I disturbed one of the piles, I might literally die. When I was old enough to be allowed into his study I was enthralled with what was in there. Really, it was a cornucopia of books reflecting his passions in photography, railroadiana, San Francisco, and automobiles. And he had read every book in his library. Some of them, as he told me on my first tour, had special significance to him as a child, like the old railroad timetables. Others were significant because of specific experiences - a book he bought about San Francisco while on honeymoon there with his wife in 1961. This was the first home library I had ever seen, and over the course of a few summers, I read many of the books that interested me there - and Dat bought me photography books to start building my own library.


(Image copyright 2010, Jason W. Dean)

I am incredibly fortunate to be married to a beautiful woman who loves reading as much as I do - Jen. What was once my library has become (very much) our library - and she has broadened my reading areas and has let our library slowly expand to support our mutual reading habits. We've even set aside a couple of nights each week as dedicated to reading, which reminds me so much of reading as a young boy, or in Indiana with my grandparents. I suppose this is my way of thanking my grandmother, Dat, and Jen for letting my reading really take flight.