A Perfect Match

(Via)

When I was a wee third grader, my teacher had all of her students read The Boxcar Children books. If you haven't read The Boxcar Children books, you obviously had a deprived childhood. The Boxcar Children books were about a family of orphans who take care of each other and lived together in an old, abandoned train boxcar. Well, at least the early books in the series were like that. The later books in the series kind of jumped the shark because they found their older, wealthy grandfather and moved to his orchard. As an adult, I think that is wonderful because the kids needed that kind of a security. But you have to admit it kind of screws up the plot line. Anyway.

One day I was sitting next to this little boy in class, and I finished my chapter long before he did. When he noticed I had finished before he did, he accused me of not reading the story at the all, basically calling me a liar. He said that no one could read that fast. I was so upset. How dare he accuse me of cheating? And I started to worry that I was some sort of super, mutant, speed reading freak. And this brief conversation in third grade has stuck with me my entire life.

Last weekend, Adam called me over to the computer to read something he found interesting online. As we were reading, I recognized that we were finishing each page at the exact same time! Adam is just as fast of a reader as I am ! With this realization, I felt less alone in this world, and the years of shame that that little third grader placed on me began to fade away.

Somewhere in our house I plan to place a sign, "Welcome To The Home of The Super, Mutant, Speed Reading Freaks."

Song of the Day: Shine by Anna Nalick