Reading

Reading is something I wish I did more of these days. There are times (however infrequent) where I miss the leisure afforded to me by my previous mode of commuting. On the train I was free to read, listen to music, watch a DVD, write, solve (or attempt to solve) a Sudoku puzzle, or even just stare out the window and admire the trees and gorgeous sun rising over the Potomac.

These days my commute is much shorter (2 hours shorter to be exact) and it is completed entirely from my car.

(I love my car. It was a fairly spontaneous purchase the week after Thanksgiving in response to Husband becoming the principal driver of the car for about a week while his was in the shop. My old Subaru was declare "unacceptable" and we were off to shop for a new car. Granted, I had fallen in love with the "perfect" car more than a year earlier while attending the DC auto-show with The Boys making our shopping trip quite short...but this really is not the point of my story today...perhaps another time.)

This new commute-by-car is less leisurely and relaxing. I do not have the down-time I once had before arriving at home to dirty dishes, dirty laundry, and a particularly needy feline. I get busy with things or fall asleep in front of the TV (which I sat down in front of because "I just needed a little time to decompress") and reading is the last thing on my to-do list.

In the past week I have attempted to start reading a new book, Mansfield Park, by one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen. This book has been on my shelf for years...neglected and overlooked. I decided it was time that I dive back into reading...for fun (who knew!) It's been a tough road, having to re-read parts because I forget what I read quickly...and the fact that I read for maybe ten minutes at a time probably does not help neither has the various locations I have chosen to read said book thus far) but I like it. I like the feeling of reading again. Today I even ventured outside my office for lunch...ordered a bowl of soup (my favorite comfort food) and read. I enjoyed my lunch "hour" for the first time in a long while. Perhaps I shall do this again (although I'm sure to hear concerns from Husband if I continually charge my lunch on the credit card...we shall cross that bridge when we get there I'm sure) and perhaps it will even become habit.

I like reading very much. How could I have forgotten...