There are a multitude of ways people like to cope with the stresses of life. Life seems to be getting more and more stressful. I know my life has, as a parent, a spouse, life just seems to be a on going juggling act. I just remember watching my mother as a single parent in wonder, in awe over how she did everything she did on her own. I later on learned the amazing accomplishments my grandmother’s succeeded in. Then there are my great grandmother’s, how one had 13 children I may never know just like I may never fully comprehend how she did so in a two bedroom home with one bathroom. I wonder how they coped.

I like to cope in a few different ways but my safe place of late is in a book, nose deep in a silly novel letting the world around me blur and peeking into a fictional character’s life. When I was young I lost track of an entire summer as all I wanted to do was read. I had just moved in with family I wasn’t too familiar with and to another state, but Judy Blum novels soothed me. When high school got rough I started to disappear in the library again, it was a happy safe place. There is a nastalgic smell of library books that to this day bring a smile to my face. When I got married and there was no internet or cable (yes TV is another popular escape) my husband and I would go to book stores and get silly magazines and books and share the things we read. We would read and have mini adventures.

I don’t go out and buy books by the arm load anymore, well not for my reading pleasure. My son’s have an interesting collection of children’s book already. My eldest brings me stacks of books excited to look at pictures, count, look at colors and he will occasionally let me read to him. I love that one of his first few words was book, and he says it like it is a fantastic announcement, “BOOK!” and grins from ear to ear.

While we start to count down the days till my youngest son is to be born I have gotten quiet. Life is crazy and I keep telling myself to slow down, breath, enjoy every incredible moment that is in the present. I don’t want to miss a thing. My eldest son has amazed me in the past few months, his growing skills, just watching him sleep leaves me in awe most days. My method of coping and trying to slow down so I can enjoy these moments? My old dear friend, sitting with my nose in a book, disappearing in another world that reminds me that my life is amazing and to count my blessings. I stop reading when real life is calling, relaxed and ready to savor each second with a new outlook. I love books