Happy Trails

Surviving the winter while being trapped in a cold with a cough and a fever can be difficult. Sometimes, I swear I want to run and jump into a snowdrift. Ah well….it is winter time after all. How does one survive? I take my cold medicine, cough a little more, wrap up in a warm blanket and drink plenty of liquids to keep me hydrated. Keeping hydrated is hard for me as I tend to forget to drink. (Must be that darn fibro fog again!) No television for me. I prefer to use my mind; I think I will just read.

My love of reading began at an early age and I still like to read. I remember sneaking down the stairs in grade school and climbing onto the small 10” ledge that served as a bookshelf. I would grab the red leather bound books belonging to my parents that were their childhood books while growing up. The books had come from my paternal grandfather. He was a great believer in knowledge. He was the 7^th son of a 7^th son, able to read and write in 5 languages. The eight book series called Book Trails were first published in 1928 and full of big words, wonderful pictures, fairies, adventures, poems and more. Words were often spelled in the Olde English style. By that I mean, potato as we know it now was spelled potatoe in the books. Both renditions are technically correct. Little did I know it was helping to educate me. I would sneak out of bed and grab a book from the series and read it by the light coming from the floor vent. Just enough light to read by when the downstairs lights were on.

I confessed my transgressions of getting out bed and disobeying my parents just a few years ago. I was informed it was too late; they knew all along I was sneaking out of bed and reading. They let me do it only because I was learning mind you, not getting into any trouble or keeping my brothers or sister awake. This is where my love of reading began. Whether I travel with The Fellowship of the Ring through the Mines of Moria while being chased by a balrog of Morgoth, traveling though time in a Time Machine powered by H.G. Wells, cheering for the residents of Redwall as they vanquish another fell beast while fighting to preserve their dwelling and ways of life, accompanying John Carter of Mars in his Barsoom adventures, flying in a wooden airship to Overland with The Ragged Astronauts, or in a galaxy created by George Lucas far, far, away involved in  a Star Wars, falling through the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland, or solving a Murder Most Frothy with Claire Cosi leading the way.

While typing this, I have noticed a theme to my readings; adventure, heroic tales, and good conquering evil. I guess it makes me an armchair adventurer. That’s okay though. I can’t do as much as I would like to do or I used to do because of the Fibromyalgia. Every winter the pain increases and I force myself to do things that are sometimes beyond my capability. When I do that, I pay for it in the end with aches and pains. I get through those times and most other times by escaping the world. Reading is my escape from the hum drum world and it keeps my mind occupied while fending off pain. Maybe it’s a coward’s way out of not dealing with things too, I am not sure, but I do know that it helps me to fall asleep by keeping my mind busy and off of the pain.

Tonight, I think I will pull out an old friend: a book that is familiar to me and has been with me my entire life, Book Trails to Enchanted Lands. I feel the need for adventure with this cough and cold. A short story as I have a short attention span tonight. Who knows, maybe it give me a smile and warm happy thoughts to fall asleep to. Happy trails everyone. I’ll be back when the fibro fog clears.