She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.
On some unremembered day of last week, Mr. Military came to my apartment for a chat. We visited for an hour or so about non-consequential matters. I had a book next to me on the couch, as I had been reading prior to his visit. Naturally. He asked me what it was, I told him the title. He asked if it was good. I replied that it was, very much so. He proceeded to ask me about the plot, and I plainly refused, hoping that my recommendation of the book was enough for him to read it himself. "Oh, I'm not going to read it," he said, "I hate reading." Silence ensued. I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of me with one swift blow. My left eye began to twitch. I attempted to change the subject so as to continue to have a decent conversation, but needless to say, Mr. Military's stay did not last long after that. {For some reason, people tend to get uncomfortable when my eye twitches.}Scratch Mr. Military off my list of eligible bachelors.
Dear Husband-To-Be,
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. {Thank you John Lennon for the consistent timely use of your lyrics}. When I was a Beehive, I made a list of the qualities I hoped that you would have. My Beehive version of you was a Returned Missionary, you had a good laugh, you had blue and/or green eyes, and you played football in high school. Unfortunately, I left out a very key quality from that list. My Beehive version of you was intelligent certainly, but I never added the fact that you love to read. Does the fact that it was not included on the "official" list make it null and void?
But darling Husband-To-Be, please, please, please, love to read. I imagine us when we're newly married spending Saturday mornings {when we're too lazy to clean the house and too poor to own a television} curled up on the couch reading. You'll be reading C.S. Lewis and I'll be reading Louisa May Alcott. We'll coincide in that special place that exists only when your mind, heart, and spirit together discover truth and beauty through words on a page. Separated only by leather bindings, but still very much together and aware of each other existing in that precious space. I imagine as we get older, our home will be packed with bookshelves overflowing with our cherished books. Victor Hugo stuffed between volumes of Shel Silverstein's poetry and Charlotte Bronte cozied up to Dr. Seuss. Every Christmas, birthday, and anniversary, our gifts to each other and to our children will more than likely be books. We will have to have an annual book sorting just to keep our collection from overtaking our home. On Sunday evenings you'll read our little girls fairy tales just as my father did with me. And as a nightly ritual before the children go to bed I'll read to them Shakespeare, Harry Potter, or Pride and Prejudice. And when the day comes that both of us have ceased to be living, breathing, mortal beings in this world, the hardest thing our children will face will be how to divide between themselves the books that have become concrete memories of us and our family as a whole. But from where we are, watching them get along just fine without us {but not too fine}, we'll smile at each other and thank God that we were inspired enough to provide them each with their own copies of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Husband-To-Be, I don't care if your eyes are blue, green, brown, or hazel. I don't care if you are 5'9" or 6'5". It does not matter to me if you are tan or if your body is toned. If you prefer the Dallas Cowboys over the New England Patriots, I won't mind. If you didn't play football at all in high school, it won't matter to me. But please, if anything, please love to read.
Con Amor,
The Coquette
9 comments:
Amen sister.
I love this post! For a very long time that has also been one of the top things on my list of qualities I like in a guy. If a guy doesn't read it doesn't mean we can't be friends, but it's usually a huge turn-off if a guy says he doesn't like to read.
Is it a turn-off to girls if a guy says, "I like to read, but I definitely don't read as much as I should"?
Because if so, that might explain why I'm still single.
nah, I at least appreciate it when a guy is willing to read books. It's good when he reads a lot, but for me personally, at least a substantial interest in good literature (with at least occasional book reading) is nice. It's when they completely shut down the idea and don't even give it a try that I don't like.
I'm with you on that, David. Textbooks have taken over my life for the time being. But I would love to dive into Orson Scott Card's books again. Or maybe some Harry Potter.
David C,
Personally, I love to read, but I definitely don't read as much as I should. There you have it. I'm flawed too. Maybe that explains why I'm still single?
The Coquette
I completely agree with this! 'Loves to read' is very high on my list of priorities.
I love this post, and I have full faith you will find a book-loving companion! I recently found my Beehive list of "ideal husband" qualities. I had left out "loves to read" since it was a given, yet I still ended up with someone who loves literature with the same enthusiasm as mine. We read Mockingjay out loud to each other, laughing and crying together. It is not a perfect book-loving relationship; he complained the entire time I listened to Emma in the car during vacation, even though he loves Pride and Prejudice. Thank you for your post, and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.
This was a fantastic post and I agree completely!
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