#30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
I sat here for awhile thinking back on my childhood trying to answer this question. I was pretty frustrated and wondering why I couldn’t think of one specific moment that made me extremely happy. And then while I was browsing Barnes and Noble looking for books and thinking about my future, it hit me. My best childhood memories always involved a book.
I loved reading when I was a kid. The days my class would go to the library in elementary school were the greatest. As a kindergartner, I’d sit and read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Corduroy (and A Pocket For Corduroy) over and over again and feel the same excitement each and every time. Actually, I still get excited when I see these books in the children’s section of a store. My children will definitely have these in their library.
When books fairs came around, I’d beg my mom for money to buy a book or two. She always obliged. She loved the fact that I read instead of getting into trouble. It was at a book fair, maybe in the 4th or 5th grade, that I bought a book called Kissing Doorknobs. I remember it distinctly because it was the first time I was introduced to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or any other mental illnesses for that matter. This book is what really sparked my interest in Psychology, which I’m currently majoring in.
I know my love for reading definitely motivates me to improve my writing. The way I get enthralled in the pages of a novel or how I can become so captivated in a beautiful piece of poetry.. That’s what I want to happen when people read my writing. I want my readers to feel connected to my words as if I’m speaking to them directly. I’m working on having people do more than just read what I write. I want them to feel the passion I put into it.
I never thought about it before, but I really do owe everything that I’m doing today to the books I read when I was younger. I guess reading really is fundamental.