Time Well Spent

One of the good things that can come from a time of illness is the slowing down that it demands of us. Yesterday was one of those times.

When grandson Jack came down with a fever, I got to spend some "down" time with him, relaxing together with reflective conversation and the shared reading of a good book.  He had just finished reading "Old Yeller", had passed the Accelerated Reading test on it with a 100, but wasn't quite ready to let it go.  It was just too good and satisfying.  ("Come back, Yeller!)  He said it was one of the best books he'd ever read. That and "Robinson Crusoe." Those were his two best books.  Fortunately I had my copy of "Old Yeller" near by because I had read mine last week while he was reading his.  He wanted more of it so I began reading Chapter One again while he tried to close his eyes (very difficult).  We laughed and discussed it. Jack asked me my favorite part of the story.  While I was thinking long and hard, he said that his favorite part was the end of the story so and we read the last chapter again, which was really touching and profound.

Our discussions about books, libraries, my childhood, his childhood and shared memories with our own perspectives on every topic made the hours fly by.  It was time well spent for both of us.  And it never would have happened had it not been for a bit of illness and the slowing down that it demanded of us.