A Happy Medium by Erin Murtaugh

A few weeks ago, my friend Madison called me from college asking if she could use my columns for her presentation for a class.

Madison is an education major and her project was on why she loves to read. Every week, Madison reads my column as soon as it is posted online. That’s one dedicated reader.

After thinking about her presentation, I started to reflect upon reading in my own life. Ever since I was a baby, my parents would read to me. When my mom found out she was pregnant with my sister, they read me a book about a polar bear family that was expecting a new cub. That’s how they told me I would be getting a baby sister.

On my first day of kindergarten, we read a book called “The Kissing Hand” and then took our own kissing hands home to our parents. Making a kissing hand became a routine for me and my parents. This book stuck with me so much that it inspired one of my tattoos. I now have a kissing hand forever on the back of my neck.

I’ve read so many books throughout my school days. Some of those books I was forced to read and those really bored me. Others really impacted me. The two books that have impacted me the most from high school are “The Great Gatsby” and “The Things They Carried.”

Of course, when I’m not super busy, I find myself reading for fun, too. I’ve read countless Nicholas Sparks and John Green books, all of which usually got me in tears.

It’s incredible how books, reading and the power of words can impact someone’s life so much. I know many of my friends find inspiration through books. I encourage reading at all ages.

If you’re an expecting mother, read to your unborn child. If you’re a busy teenager, start a book. Who cares if it takes you a whole year to read? If you’re too busy to read a book, pick up a newspaper and read a little bit of it. Reading is an important part of life.

 

Albert Lea High School graduate Erin Murtaugh is a first-year student at Rochester Community and Technical College. She can be reached at murtaugh.erin@gmail.com.