Wake up at 0150 because I am female and fifty-one, and drenched in sweat. <\/p>\n
Get up and take a shower. <\/p>\n
Come back to bed, see a missed call from a cute guy. <\/p>\n
Why would someone call at 0124 and not leave a message?<\/p>\n
Why would someone call at 0124 at all?<\/p>\n
Still. Someone was thinking about me. Nice. <\/p>\n
Back to bed. Still too hot to sleep. Not *that* kind of hot. <\/p>\n
Start to read “Bird By Bird” and must recognize that I can see why it reminded someone of me. <\/p>\n
Annie Lamott talking about her early memories of reading and writing. <\/p>\n
I don’t remember the time before I knew how to read, but I do remember Daniel Boone. <\/p>\n
One of my first memories. <\/p>\n
Splayed out on the living room floor with a big orange Child Craft book that belonged to my father. <\/p>\n
Trying to read myself a story about Daniel Boone. <\/p>\n
Frustrated. <\/p>\n
I was so close to reading, and just couldn’t quite. <\/p>\n
And it knew that everything was in there. In the books. I needed to be able to read them. <\/p>\n
Three? Four?<\/p>\n
Suddenly on the page, the word moon was there. <\/p>\n
It seemed huge on the page somehow. <\/p>\n
One second, just scrambled letters. Then so obvious. <\/p>\n
Moon. <\/p>\n
That is the first word I remember knowing how to read. <\/p>\n
Moon. Glowing like the actual moon in a story about Daniel Boone. <\/p>\n
Nothing could stop me then. <\/p>\n
I could read. <\/p>\n
Nothing can stop me now. <\/p>\n
I still do. <\/p>\n
In the middle of the night when I should be sleeping. <\/p>\n
When it’s only a few hours until 0525 and I will have to be up again. <\/p>\n
Insomnia doesn’t come without rewards. <\/p>\n
Like the moon, and words on a page. <\/p>\n
But now it’s almost 0300, and I should put away the moon and go to sleep. <\/p>\n
Goodnight, moon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"