WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR? OPEN BOOK BLOG HOP 17

Join our Open Book Blog Hop. This week we are sharing what we are grateful for and look forward to reading what you give thanks for.

This topic has the potential to make for a very long blog post, but I will focus on one main item I am extremely grateful for.

I have to say that I was a very friendly child. I had no problem saying “Hello” to passersby. I liked people and since I was personable I had plenty to share with everyone, including my parents. My father seemed willing to listen when I wanted to talk to him, and in my book that made for a great relationship.

The one thing I didn’t share with anyone was that people and objects were getting more and more blurry. I thought it was punishment for my disobedience.

At six-years-old I was told many times to move back from the television, but when your babysitter watches television as a sport and you sit there waiting for the commercials so you tell them about your doll’s new hairstyle there is a chance you might get hooked. And hooked I was. I could tell my parents what was playing on any single day of the week and the time it was playing. I was a walking TV Guide and it was a great cover up because I could barely make out what was playing when forced to sit a decent distance from the television when we watched it as a family.

First grade was a challenge because my teacher who liked to write new words on a chalk board, which no matter where I sat, was too far to see clearly. It was then the red flags went up for my parents because my grades in reading and spelling were extremely low. I was enrolled in a special after school tutorial program to help me with my reading. Well of course I excelled with the one-on-one attention and the books that were as close as my hand.

Imagine my parent’s confusion when two years later the program stated that there was nothing more they could do for me because I was reading at the 9th grade level, but I was still barely getting Cs in class. One fateful parent-teacher conference that fall raised a question about my vision and thus after an hour of puffs of air being blown in my eyes and trying to find the barn at the end of the lane I was diagnosed with an advanced form of Myopia.

One week later, armed with a pair of glasses that could indeed rival a Coke bottle, I was seeing clearly and the passion that was birthed in me for reading was even more voracious. I read anything, near or far, that I could and when I couldn’t find anything to read, I would make up something to read. Thus a writer was born.

Writing has given me many moments of joy and healing. It has been a way to exorcise emotions I otherwise wouldn’t have known what to do with and it has been a welcome reprieve when life became too hard to deal with. No matter which way it came about, I am grateful for the gift of reading and writing and how it continues to gift me every time I open a book or place my pen to paper. I am grateful for parents that did the best they could with the understanding they had and I thank God for setting me up for a blessing by allowing my eyes to slowly weaken so I could be given a gift that has strengthened my soul.

I'm going to pop over to see what the gracious P.J. Maclayne is grateful for. I know it will be a great read. Why don't you join me? http://pjmaclayne.blogspot.com/2015/10/what-im-grateful-for-open-book-blog-hop.html

Speaking of great reads... Have you read her book 'The Marquesa's Necklace (Oak Grove Mysteries Book 1)'? With 4.9 out of 5 stars you know you are in for a treat. Remember, this is book 1 so there's plenty of reading with the 2nd book in this series, Her Ladyship's Ring.

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October 21 – Oct. 27, 2015: Gratitude: What are you grateful for?

Rules: 1. Link your blog to this hop. 2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop. 3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants' blogs. 4. Tweet/or share each person's blog post. Use ‪#‎OpenBook when tweeting. 5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

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