Have I Always Been A Reader?

I’ve decided that I’m going to start making discussion posts. I’m just going to post them randomly. Maybe once a week. I really want to try and be more active. And yes, I know I said I switch platforms again. I tried self hosting WordPress and I still did not like it. I will be staying on Blogger and never switching again. This time, I can promise you.

Today’s topic is one I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of people talk about. Have I always been a reader? The answer is simple. No. Not always.

That’s not even in the sense that I didn’t read when I was baby and whatnot. That’s completely obvious. I don’t even think my parents read to me when I was younger. I definitely have no recollection of that.

I started reading around the time Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released in theaters. When I heard whispers about whether or not it would be like the book, I got curious. I asked almost everyone in my family to buy me the books. Harry Potter started my reading journey.

I know a lot of people say that, but it’s true. Harry Potter is amazing and I will always cherish it for showing me that I can go anywhere just by opening a book.

Well, after I read Harry Potter, I wanted to pick up more books. I read things like Goosebumps and The Magic Tree House. I was getting quite the collection. When I was in fourth grade, our home burned down.

I lost all of my books.

My heart still breaks for the things me and my family lost in that fire. I’m just glad nobody was hurt. Almost everything was replaced. Except my books. I relied on my school library to read new books.

I’m going to skip forward for a little bit to when I moved in with my Grandma. Life at home was stressful and I was so stressed out at such a young age. Grandma was the best, she bought me every single book I wanted. She definitely urged me to read. Said it would make me smarter. Man, I love that woman.

I read and read and read. Until I was about sixteen-years-old. I started branching out a bit and making friends. Well, these new friends didn’t give me much time to read. I stopped for the longest time. I didn’t think it was “cool.” I was sixteen back in 2010. I didn’t start reading again, like really reading, until 2014. The year my son was born.

I’ve been reading nonstop since. I don’t think I’ll ever stop. Books are my safe place. They’re everything to me.

Have you always been a reader?