feeling a bit nostalgic

I've run across a few written pieces of late that have made me yearn for that time when life was so much simpler: childhood. No bills. No meetings. No responsibilites.

I ran across this mental_floss blog homage about Mr. Rogers by Mangesh. I loved growing up with Mr. Rogers and travelling on the trolley to the Land of Make Believe. I adored the Platypus family, Lady Elaine, and the Owl. How could you hate someone who taught you fun things and actually educated you without acting like a "teacher"? Anyway, the blog post is sweet and endearing.

I also ran across a blog which turned me over to this multi-part article from the UK paper, The Telegraph, "100 Books Every Child Should Read." Although I have read many on the list, I can't agree that they are definitive--no list ever is. However, it is a place to start for families who just don't read that much.

I read all the time growing up--and I've got all the books to prove it. I have books in my bed, stacked on the night stands, books in the kitchen island, downstairs, upstairs, in the garage and in the attic. I don't think I could live without them--in practice, that may not be true, but it feels true. I remember reading a small piece in Poets & Writers magazine a while back about a writer who evacuated New Orleans before Katrina hit. And when she went back, all her books were destroyed--quite a few of which had been signed by authors. It made my heart ache.